Designing sustainable imaging environments in Australia and New Zealand
As MRI demand continues to rise across Australia and New Zealand, departments are increasingly focused on sustaining access over the long term. As outlined in previous articles, throughput and variability play a defining role in MRI capacity. Increasingly, however, departments are recognising that MRI workflow design, system usability, and patient experience are equally critical in determining whether that capacity can be maintained.
Throughput is rarely determined by scan speed alone. It is shaped by how consistently workflows run, how predictably systems perform, and how well patients tolerate the examination. Where variability exists, friction accumulates. Where friction accumulates, operational pressure follows.
MRI workflow as a determinant of capacity
MRI workflow inefficiency is rarely dramatic. It manifests in small but cumulative ways: manual optimisation steps before acquisition, variation in exam setup between operators, motion‑related reacquisition, and patient‑related delays that compress daily schedules.
Individually, these inefficiencies may appear modest. Collectively, they erode effective capacity and contribute to list instability in high‑demand environments.
Improving MRI workflow, therefore, is not simply about efficiency metrics. It is about reducing operational friction, improving predictability, and enabling technologists to operate more consistently across the scanning day.
Usability and technologist workflow consistency
System usability plays a central role in MRI workflow stability.
When interfaces are intuitive and protocols are consistent, and produce robust reliable resultant images, technologists can move more efficiently from patient to patient with fewer manual adjustments. Predictable system behaviour reduces setup time, lowers error rates, and supports confidence, particularly in departments managing high volumes or rotating staff across scanners.
GE HealthCare MRI systems are designed with workflow harmonisation at their core. Across platforms such as SIGNA™ Hero 3.0T, SIGNA™ Premier 3.0T, SIGNA™ Voyager 1.5T, and SIGNA™ Champion 1.5T, teams can proactively prepare for upcoming examinations and implement robust imaging protocols that perform reliably—even in the most challenging patient scenarios.
These protocols are designed to work consistently right the first time, reducing variability and supporting smoother, more predictable daily operations. As usability and consistency improve, workflows stabilise, directly enabling sustained throughput and operational efficiency.
Reconstruction consistency and repeat reduction
Workflow stability is also influenced by reconstruction performance.
Deep‑learning reconstruction technologies such as AIR™ Recon DL improve signal robustness and reduce noise amplification, as well as support artefact reduction. In appropriate protocols, acquisition parameters can be optimised while maintaining diagnostic clarity.
Sonic DL™ is designed for acceleration without introducing artefacts and can be used in combination with AIR™ Recon DL, enabling examinations to be completed more quickly while preserving image quality and delivering even greater patient tolerance.
The operational relevance lies not only in acquisition time, but in repeat reduction.
Motion artefact remains a persistent contributor to reacquisition. Anxiety and discomfort increase motion, which in turn increases artefact. Studies have shown that a proportion of patients experience significant claustrophobia during MRI, with some unable to complete the examination.⁴ Being able to get through examinations in shorter scan times without compromise to image quality is therefore paramount.
Reducing artefact‑related repeat imaging improves schedule predictability and protects capacity.
Patient experience as an operational variable
Patient experience in MRI has traditionally been viewed as a qualitative consideration. Increasingly, it is recognised as an operational variable with direct impact on throughput and list stability.
Each incomplete or extended examination disrupts workflow, requires rescheduling, and consumes future capacity. System design features such as wide‑bore architecture, acoustic noise mitigation, and ergonomic coil design influence patient tolerance and positioning stability.
GE HealthCare MRI systems incorporate patient‑centric design features intended to improve comfort during scanning. Lightweight, flexible AIR™ Coils conform more naturally to patient anatomy, simplifying positioning, improving comfort, and reducing anxiety during acquisition.
Improved tolerance reduces motion. Reduced motion reduces reacquisition. Patient experience, therefore, directly supports operational performance.
Workflow stability and workforce sustainability
When setup variability decreases, repeat imaging declines, and patient tolerance improves, daily elasticity increases. Improved elasticity allows departments to absorb unavoidable disruptions without compressing schedules or extending operating hours.
In healthcare systems where workforce growth remains constrained, reducing unnecessary workflow friction supports more sustainable working conditions for technologists operating under sustained pressure.
Workflow design, therefore, becomes a contributor to workforce sustainability. Improving MRI workflow is not a technical indulgence; it is structural risk mitigation.
Designing for predictability
In high‑demand MRI environments, predictability is often the difference between stability and operational strain.
When protocol execution is consistent, systems behave as expected, reconstruction output is reliable, and patient tolerance is well supported, daily operations become easier to manage.
Across GE HealthCare’s MRI portfolio, workflow harmonisation, reconstruction consistency, and patient‑centric system design are intended to reduce variability across examinations, not simply to accelerate individual scans.
Reduced variability stabilises daily lists. More stable lists support sustained access. Over time, this predictability underpins resilient MRI services capable of meeting growing demand.
Sources
Footnotes
- European Society of Radiology. Radiology workflow efficiency commentary
- Kim JH et al. Radiologist workforce trends in Australia and New Zealand. Korean Journal of Radiology, 2023.
- Everlight Radiology. Global Radiologist Report 2025.
- Kilborn LC, Labbe EE. Magnetic resonance imaging scanning procedures: development of phobic response during scan and at one‑month follow‑up. Journal of Behavioral Medicine.
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