Feature
Crossing the IR desert
The need for IRs in rural communities By Laura Findeiss, MD, FSIR
in a community of 50,000 people. I was already somewhat familiar with the challenges faced by patients in remote communities, having previously worked in emergency departments in rural East Tennessee. I knew there is often a gap in the quality of care that rural patients
W 12 IRQ | SPRING 2021
My experience in Charleston was not unique—except, perhaps, in that that the local community actually had IR services while I lived there. Data have demonstrated that individuals living in many parts of the country not only lack access to an IR but also lack access to any radiologist with image-guided procedural skills. These “IR deserts” highlight a major public health concern and a startling inequality in access to care.
hen I started my career in Charleston, West Virginia, I was the only interventional radiologist
receive, but my tenure in West Virginia underscored that phenomenon. Many of my patients lived in communities with no health care infrastructure and were required to travel great distances to receive basic services. Even when they traveled hours to reach our hospital, many of these patients had needs that we could not meet and, for some disorders, had to travel to another state to receive subspecialty care.
Today’s standard of care IR therapies have become a standard of care for many disease states, to such an extent that some of us may take them for granted. When I was in surgical training, if someone had an abdominal abscess, we would take them to the operating room, open them up and wash them out. That was something we did routinely—but now one would rarely think to do that when an IR can
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