List 4 responsibilities of a Radiographer in PACS.
- Check images have reached PACS correctly
- Never deliberately hide, delete or manipulate errors
- Never manually enter the worklist
- Report any issues, problems or mistakes immediately to the PACS team
- Never share images from PACS to external sources
What do the following abbreviations stand for:
PACS
DICOM
PACS: Picture Archiving & Communications System
DICOM: Digital Imaging & Communications in Medicine
What are 3 advantages of PACS?
- User-friendly software allows easy access to clinicians
- Provides a secure & longitudinal patient imaging record in one convenient solution
- Enables integration with other hospital systems
- More than one clinician can edit the images
Why is image sharing important?
- Offers the continuity of patient care
- Reduces necessity of duplicate exams
- Enables patient access
- Useful in medico-legal advice
What does the term LOSSY mean?
A type of image compression where some data is lost in the compression (used in ECHO or US)
Explain the difference between Resiliency and Redundancy.
Resiliency is the ability to provide and maintain an acceptable service level in the event of system faults and challenges to normal operation, (i.e. Backups & Disaster Recovery Planning).
Whereas Redundancy is the duplication of critical components or functions of a system, with the intention of increasing reliability of the system (failover to a server in another data centre).
List 4 disadvantages of PACS.
- Expensive
- Needs constant updating
- Relies on computer systems that may crash
- Requires time to train users
- Needs administration staff to manage it
Why should backup systems have 3 image copies?
To avoid disasters such as the NHS Wannacry Ransomware cyber attack.
What is LOSSLESS?
A type of image compression where information is not lost (needed for high quality imaging data/detail).
List 3 standards of DICOM.
- DICOM files can be viewed by specialist applications, such as PACS
- Patient ID, Name and MRN are included to ensure that the image and metadata never get separated
- DICOM groups data into attributes and datasets
- A DICOM Header shows all fields and relevant values including pixel data
What will future developments enable?
- Automated menial tasks
- Improve productivity
- Aid in Triage imaging
- Identify pathologies
- Improve patient outcomes
3 examples of Future developments
AI Machine Learning
Vendor Neutral Archives (VNA)
Collaborative PACS/VNA
