DR Systems PACS Highlighted at Patient Safety Conference.

SAN DIEGO -- Hospitals can upgrade their patient-safety efforts by using an advanced PACS, according to two poster presentations at the annual meeting of the National Patient Safety Foundation.

Moreover, such a PACS can extend those same advantages to rural hospitals that lack full radiology services. Several of the benefits outlined in the posters employ unique features that are part of the DR Systems PACS.

The PACS-related patient safety aspects described in the poster by Jeff Breedlove, RT, radiology systems administrator at Haywood Regional Medical Center (HRMC) in Clyde, N.C., include:

* Continuous attention to patients. The PACS workstations can be interfaced with the hospital information system (HIS) so that all data entry work related to the exam can be performed by the technologist in the exam room with the patient. Before the PACS was installed, technologists needed to leave the room to do data entry, making them unavailable if the patient had a medical emergency.

* Faster turnaround of radiologist reports. The automated reporting features of the PACS - including dictation, voice recognition, transcription, printing, faxing, and Web distribution of reports - have reduced radiology report turnaround time to an average of 13-15 minutes for all modalities. This compares to 12-to-48 hours in the pre-PACS era at HRMC. This means much faster diagnosis and treatment for seriously ill patients.

* Positive patient identification. The interface between the PACS workstations and HIS enables technologists to quickly confirm patient identification, so that patients with common names aren't accidentally given a treatment intended for someone else with the same name.

Breedlove also noted that along with installation of the DR Systems PACS, the hospital upgraded its networking capabilities. Radiological imaging creates huge files that can move sluggishly through a typical hospital network. HRMC upgraded the cables and switches of its IT network so imaging files could move through the network more quickly and easily.

The combination of the PACS and network enabled much faster comparison of current to prior studies for emergency patients. The time to access prior exams was reduced from 6 minutes down to 45 seconds. These time savings can make a critical difference with cardiac and stroke patients, for whom time is of the essence.

The second poster presented at the NPSF meeting told the story of how a single DR Systems PACS is being used to provide full radiological services to 22 different organizations.

These organizations include six rural hospitals that previously only had occasional access to a reading radiologist. The presentation was by Laurie A. Martin, M.D. and Katherine Leslie B.S., RDMS, DRA, RT, (R) (CT), of Central Oregon Radiology Associates (CORA), a large radiology practice in Bend, Ore.

Because of their limited resources and a national radiologist shortage, many rural hospitals must rely on traveling radiologists who visit every few days to interpret studies. As much as a week was passing between radiologist visits to some rural hospitals in CORA's region.

In 2000, CORA and Cascade Healthcare Community (CHC) - the parent organization of St. Charles Medical Center-Bend and St. Charles Medical Center-Redmond - formed a joint venture called Cascade Medical Imaging (CMI), in part to acquire an advanced PACS. Because of the PACS' Web-based design and other features, CMI also envisioned providing services to other healthcare facilities in its region, including rural hospitals.

To date, CMI has recruited 19 additional members to its network.

The PACS network improves patient safety for its rural hospital members in large part by expediting diagnosis and treatment. The PACS' Web-based design makes it possible for the hospitals to have imaging studies read by a CMI radiologist within minutes after making a request. A verbal report is then distributed back to the hospital after a few more minutes via a unique feature of the PACS called a voice clip. That "clip" is a voice file that contains a summary of the radiologist's interpretation of the exam.

The voice clip suffices for most cases, especially in emergency situations. A full written report is often available to the hospitals within two hours, thanks to the automated reporting capability.

The PACS also improves the quality of interpretation over what the rural hospitals were restricted to with film. Radiologists can manipulate digital images to enhance reading of areas of concern. By comparison, film must be read as-is.

The NPSF meeting was held May 3-4 in Washington, D.C.

About DR Systems, Inc.

DR Systems, Inc. is the leading independent provider of medical imaging and information systems for diagnostic imaging centers and hospitals. For 15 years, the company has helped over 500 hospitals and imaging center sites improve the management of patient information, eliminate film costs, and increase workflow speed, all while providing better clinical quality and patient care.

The company's Unity RIS-PACS integrates numerous tools to improve financial performance and productivity, including: Web-based scheduling, image, report and audio clip distribution; patented, automated hanging protocols for radiologists; and the report format preferences of individual referring physicians.

In addition to being named the top healthcare IT company and "Best in KLAS" PACS vendor for 2006, DR Systems was rated the #1 PACS vendor in the "KLAS PACS-Acute Care 2006 Report." MD Buyline rated the company as the #1 PACS vendor for six consecutive quarters.

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