Mobile medical images challenge PACS administrators

The growing use of tablet devices and mobile phones by doctors for viewing medical images, pose a number of challenges for PACS administrators. Dr. David Hirschorn, is the director of radiology informatics at Staten Island University Hospital, N.Y. and a researcher in radiology informatics at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston. He is also a member of the American College of Radiology IT and Informatics Committee, serving as a representative to FDA for mobile medical devices. He was a featured speaker at the Sept. 10 NY Medical Imaging Informatics symposium. PARCA E-News spoke to him, by cell phone (of course) to ask about these challenges.

Q. How did you become interested in medical imaging on mobile devices?
A. I’m a radiologist who researches  displays. For years I’ve looked at what we really need in order to read an x-ray or a CT scan. They make medical displays that are a lot more expensive than consumer displays.

PACS News Roundup

Meaningful Use stage two emphasizes encryption

A point of increased emphasis for the meaningful use (MU) Stage 2 final rule is encryption of “data at rest”—the patient-identifiable information stored on servers, hard drivers and portable devices. The increased emphasis most likely is due to the more than 50,000 breaches reported to the Office of Civil Rights since late 2009 when healthcare organizations were first required by the ARRA to notify the government of their breaches. More

iPad equals secondary-class LCD for reading emergency spinal MRIs

A study in the Aug. 2012 Academic Radiology researchers compared the iPad with secondary-class LCD monitors for reading emergency spinal MRIs. They concluded the displays had no statistically significant differences in diagnostic accuracy, showing that mobility doesn’t necessarily have to come at the cost of reader accuracy. More

Study shows how to handle massive increase in outside imaging study requests

Facing a 1,400 percent annual increase in requests for interpretation of outside imaging studies from 2010 to 2011, the Department of Radiology led by Dr. Stephen Reis at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, N.Y., analyzed the workflow issues and identified six key problems for handling the requests. As reported by HealthImaging.com, the researchers shared the department’s workflow solution in August issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology. More

Multi-site hospital system slashes PACS downtime via workflow continuity model

In an analysis of a workflow continuity system implemented by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), a PACS team led by Brian Kolowitz found that downtime was reduced by 94 percent from 2008 to 2011. The impact of unplanned downtimes was reduced by 72 percent while the impact of planned downtimes was reduced by 99.7 percent over the same period. The study appears in the July 2012 Journal of Digital Imaging. More