Electronic Outpatient Medical Imaging Orders

From Tuesday 14th December 2021, requests for outpatient medical imaging to be performed at Western Health can be ordered completely electronically!  

Orders placed in the EMR with Medical Imaging Provider: “Outpatient Western Health” selected, will be sent directly to our Western Health Radiology Information System to be actioned.  

What this means for clinicians:

BEFORE YOU ORDER – Check with your patient that they are happy to have imaging performed at a Western Health site – Footscray, Williamstown and Sunshine Hospitals

•   Clinicians ordering medical imaging requests to be performed at any of the Western Health Medical Imaging sites will no longer need to print paper requisitions

•   Clinicians will be able to track the progress of their medical imaging requests by looking at the orders page in the EMR. The medical imaging’s order status will reflect the progress of the request

•   Clinicians will be able to cancel medical imaging orders in the EMR if the order is yet to be actioned by Medical Imaging. If the order has been actioned by Medical Imaging, clinicians will no longer have the option to cancel in the EMR and will need to call the Medical Imaging department to have the order cancelled

•   Medical imaging reports will come through to the ordering clinician’s Message Centre    in the EMR once completed

 

What this means for patients:

•   Patients will no longer need to take a physical paper request to Western Health Medical Imaging to schedule their scan

•   For X-rays, your patient will be able to walk-in to any Western Health Medical Medical Imaging site (Footscray, Williamstown and Sunshine) to have their X-ray without an appointment. Your patient will not need a paper request.  Your patient will not be contacted by Medical Imaging to make a booking.  If your patient wishes to schedule the scan, please provide them with the Medical Imaging Department phone number for them to call to schedule their scan.

•   For all other imaging modalities, your patient will be contacted by Medical Imaging within 2 weeks of the time frame specified in the order. Once booked, your patient will be reminded within 24 hours of their appointment.

Note: Any patient who opts to have their scan done externally will require the order to be placed in the EMR with Medical Imaging Provider: “Outpatient External” selected and will still need a printed requisition handed to the patient.

 

Quick Reference Guides:

Radiology – Cancelling an Order

Radiology – Ordering for Outpatients (Including Telehealth) and FAQ

Radiology – Ordering Maternal Fetal Medicine (MFM) Ultrasounds

 

For queries please contact Deputy Chief Medical Informatics Officer, Dr Anthony Barberi – Anthony.Barberi@wh.org.au