Archiving Made Easy With Radiology PACS

Last Updated on Monday, 4 April 2011 09:30 Written by admin Monday, 28 March 2011 09:26

The busy medical imaging center and radiology department of a large hospital produce thousands of digital medical images over the course of a year. A significant part of the work involved at these types of medical facilities occurs after the digital data is captured, however. Storage comprises a major portion of the handling of medical digital images, and so anything that can be done to streamline those important processes helps to improve overall workflow in that department. It is for this and other reasons that many imaging centers and radiology departments rely on radiology PACS.

Archiving of patient digital records can happen in a number of different ways through the use of a radiology PACS system. If a patient needs to take a hard copy of digital images with him or her to a specialist’s office, for example, hard copies can be printed out on a digital printer, but copies can also be saved to a CD or DVD, making it more convenient for the consulting physician and patient.

With a PACS in place at your medical office, you can also set it to automatically save copies in seconds of patient digital medical images to the patient file as well as to both on- and off-site servers. The off-site server functions very well for many medical facilities that must keep within compliance of HIPPA rules for disaster recovery of patient medical records.

Another important way that you can save money is to use a radiology PACS that is web based. Because the PACS system is online, any number of associated medical offices and imaging centers in your local area network, wide area network or virtual private network can all use the same PACS system simultaneously.

Hospitals find other uses for their radiology PACS besides just as an excellent way to store digital images. Hospitals and other medical facilities that typically process a high volume of digital medical images find that a PACS can also function well as a dedicated router. With hundreds and thousands of digital images being sent through a medical network, the PACS as router makes sure that every digital image gets to its proper destination promptly and accurately.

At Dicom Solutions, we have PACS appliances that will work for the largest hospitals through to smaller specialty medical facilities, and all offer affordable options for the important storage needs that your medical office requires consistently.

Dicom And Mobile X-Ray Systems

Last Updated on Monday, 4 April 2011 09:26 Written by admin Monday, 14 March 2011 09:22

DICOM stands for Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine, and it is the current format used for many different types of medical digital images taken from a variety of modalities. Although it is considered commonplace now, medical facilities quickly realize just how important it is when they have the experience of having to deal with film x-rays or digital medical images translated into a format other than DICOM. Because DICOM is the common computer format used in a variety of medical applications, its use also extends to mobile x-ray systems as well.

Many medical facilities and hospitals rely on a large variety of digital imaging components that make up their entire radiology suite of diagnostic tools. This is also the case with mobile x-ray systems. Most have a digital imager, often in DR or CR mode, to capture the raw digital image data. However, the digital image information then needs to be put into the proper format so that the image can be saved, stored, viewed and distributed electronically. This is where having a PACS system connected to your mobile x-ray unit helps tremendously.

The DICOM format also helps with equipment compatibility. Having imagers, PACS, printers and other components made by different digital imaging manufacturers could spell trouble in terms of all of the different digital pieces being able to read and communicate with each other, but because DICOM is the common digital image format, all of that hassle is eliminated.

When you are traveling and working in a mobile x-ray unit, you want to have many of the same features in your digital imaging equipment that you are used to having at your home office. You can set up a clinical workstation using a laptop computer, for example, in order to view the DICOM images that you take in the field. With wireless capabilities added to the mix, you can also have access to your servers back at home so that digital images can be quickly and efficiently saved for further reference. You can also connect to your network as well, allowing you to send the digital images that you take while traveling to consulting physicians, to the patient’s file at your home office, as well as to an archive for safe storage.

We offer a wide variety of options for hospitals and medical facilities both large and small when it come to DICOM-format mobile x-ray systems, as well as used equipment at affordable prices.

PACS Solutions Are Within Reach Of Smaller Medical Facilities

Last Updated on Friday, 4 March 2011 09:43 Written by admin Friday, 4 March 2011 09:43

It used to be that small-scale medical offices appreciated the versatility that a PACS system could provide them, but were overwhelmed by the high cost of PACS. PACS systems were originally only affordable to large hospitals, but the prevalence of personal computers and electronic devices has dramatically brought down the price of medical technologies, including radiology PACS. Today, small and mid-sized medical facilities can find an affordable PACS system for as little as five hundred dollars a month, and these PACS bring all of the useful features that medical offices have come to appreciate.

Radiology PACS run on the nearly universal DICOM platform. Your PACS system will accept digital images taken in a variety of modalities, such as PET, CT, Mammography, Ultrasound, MRI and others, and will convert them to DICOM format. In this format, they can then be used by the PACS system to allow you to view, distribute and store the digital images that you take.

PACS systems are also designed for use in clinical specialties, such as an orthopedic PACS.