Abstract
Objective: To determines the causes of delay in the generation of CT and MRI reports.
Methodology: We analyzed 9883 cases of CT and MRI at Dow Institute of Radiology, Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, Pakistan during February 2020. The saved Patients' electronic data on MISSION PACS were retrieved through 24 hour functional IT team. Data were gathered from main center University campus, as well as from peripheral branches. Report Turnaround Time (RTAT) was noted for each case. The institutional bench mark (IBM) for the University was set to 60 hours.
Results: We found that 1604 CT scans had RTAT of more than 60 hour out of which, 738(46.0%) were delayed due to typing delay by Medical Transcriptionists, 499(31.1%) delayed due to PACS issues, 305(19.0%) had their invoice generated in the weekend days i.e. Saturday and Sunday and the faculty held 62(3.9%) cases. A total of 1299 MRI scans had RTAT >60 hour out of which, 545(41.9%) were delayed due to Medical Transcriptionists (MTs), 397(30.5%) had their invoice generated in weekend days, 221(17.0%) were delayed due to PACS issues and the faculty held 138(10.6%) cases.
Conclusion: Intermittent PACS malware and the MT issues were the major factors for delay in RTAT.

Key words: Report Turnaround Time (RTAT), magnetic resonance imaging, CT scan.