Picture Archive Film
Introduction to Picture Archive and Communication Systems
Abstract
This article on Picture Archive and Communication Systems (PACS) has been chosen by us to analyze the most preferred and used digital networking device in hospitals for the storage, transformation, display and management of diagnostic imaging. They have substituted the hard copy based maintenance of images like that of film images. This technology has provided the medical practitioners with the facility of off-site access and reporting of images of their patients. Though these require high set up cost, yet in long run they have provided the advantage of cost savings and space saving to the practitioners and the hospitals, which they used to incur while using the film images.
Critique
This article explains about the digital network device used for diagnosis of non-film and non-paper images, which is known as the Picture Archive and Communication Systems (PACS). He explains PACS as just a part of Hospital Information System, which is very essential for delivering a quality care to the patient. A brief description of the widely used information systems like Digital imaging and communications (DICOM) systems, Electronic health record (EHR), Health care information system (HIS) and Radiology information system (RIS) and Health Level Seven (HL7) have also been provided in the article in order to give us the clear picture of the technology being used. This system is very expensive to be installed in one's organization. The initial set up cost is very high and also requires specialist, who has the knowledge of its operations. Instead of these shortcomings, there has been a significant growth in the introduction of this system in the organizations.
The changes in the internal structure of the institutions technology should also be made in order to use it for routine clinical activities. The diagram in the article explains us the whole structure of the operation of the PACS process. A central server, which takes the help of LAN and WAN, in order to store the database of the client's images, is a must for this system to work. Any mistake in either the server or the network will disrupt the whole process and the functioning will be affected. A brief comparison of the conventional paper based communication and the new electronic communication system has been made, which enables us to know the benefits of the new system over the old one. The benefits, which can be underlined by analyzing the table, are: the system is very prompt to generate the image at different terminals, availability of the previous images can be used for referencing, users can handle the system very easily and it also reduces the possibility of the films being lost. In this way, it reduces the cost of operations.
On the contrary to the above benefits, some drawbacks can also be seen in PACS. At the starting of the process, there is human involvement. The patient name, hospital ID, Patient code etc. are entered by individuals. Any incorrect patient data entered at this preliminary stage may lead to a mix up of the final report delivery. The online storage capacity of images is also limited to a maximum of 180 images.
References
Hood, M. N. and Scott, H. 2006, September. Picture Archive and Communication Systems. Journal of Radiology Nursing, 69-74.
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