Georgian Bay General Hospital patients now have more ultrasound options.
The Midland hospital announced it’s expanding ultrasound services in its diagnostic imaging department for the benefit of inpatients and outpatients by increasing hours of operation and types of available ultrasound services.
“By extending our hours and adding this important new service, we are continuing to improve access to important diagnostic procedures for our community,” explained Angie Saini, vice president of Clinical Services and chief nursing executive.
“Instead of travelling outside our area for shorter wait times elsewhere or for MSK (musculoskeletal) ultrasound, we can now accommodate more patients and offer them additional services, bringing care closer to home for patients.”
With the addition of a technologist certified in MSK ultrasound, GBGH will now be able to offer this new service to patients. MSK ultrasound is an important diagnostic tool to capture images of muscles, tendons, ligaments, nerves and cartilage throughout the body.
It helps determine where an injury or chronic condition such as tendonitis, rotator cuff tears and joint problems have occurred and the extent of those injuries or conditions. Patients can now request to be referred to GBGH rather than travel outside this area for this procedure.
The goal of extending the hours is to dramatically reduce wait times for non-urgent ultrasounds from 40 days to 14 days.
Between April 1, 2020 and March 31, 2021, GBGH performed nearly 8,945 ultrasound procedures. Given the changes in hours of operation and services available, GBGH forecasts ultrasound volumes to increase by 1,900 – 2,400 annually.
The hospital’s new hours of operation for ultrasounds will increase to 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., Monday to Friday, and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends. The previous hours were 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday to Friday, with on-call service on weekends.
