Medical Diagnostic Imaging by Remote: The Surprising Opinions of Radiologists.

Medical Diagnostic Imaging Through Cloud Services Could Boost Performance

A recent report published in the Journal of the American College of Radiology says that while virtual consultations (VC) are a hit as far as patient care is concerned, radiologists aren’t as satisfied with them. Medical diagnostic imaging has increasingly gone digital, and the report says referring doctors by and large find the VC systems to be easy to use, but 61 percent of radiologists say the systems put a bug in their workflow.

Despite the fact that radiologists aren’t coping with the VC systems, it’s not a choice at this time. Rather, it’s a mandatory procedure since the most recent phase of Meaningful Use has kicked in, requiring radiologists to file an electronic report of their exam findings within 24 hours of the exam.

Researchers working on the report say radiologists used their PACS to participate in the study while referring physicians used instant message VC sessions through their electronic health record system. However, some physicians and radiologists preferred using screen-sharing tools.

The benefit of using a VC system is that it renders geography unimportant, which is what many radiologists and doctors are shooting for when it comes to sharing medical images. Getting in the way of that process is often proprietary systems that create roadblocks, especially when it comes to sharing with entities outside the department.

Cloud-based vendors that manage medical images are working to assist radiologists in getting around issues related to sharing reports and image data. One way they are doing this is by working with vendor neutral archiving architecture, which makes proprietary issues a thing of the past.

If workflow is an issue for radiologists at your facility, consider the VNA technology and how it can enhance PACS without having to completely replace them. Some healthcare organizations have spent a great deal of money on new PACS, yet they don’t get the advantages that can be found in cloud-based, VNA solutions.

When connected with the right solutions, providers can offer departments across the organization access to seamless image storing and archiving compatibilities, regardless of the name on the PACS. Integration issues dissipate as DICOM and non-DICOM data can be worked together without disruption.

Before you partner with a cloud-based VNA provider, make sure they fit the definition of true VNA, which means that the solution is capable of storing the complete suite of DICOM SOP classes. Furthermore, the VNA should be able to store objects in a non-proprietary format that is understood by the community at large, which would be DICOM part 102. The solution must also be able to handle ADT updates to the image files stored in the archive.

OffSite Image Management, Inc. is constantly working to improve medical diagnostic imaging processes. We’re doing this through offering a 360-degree diagnostic image solution that allows clients a variety of sharing and storage solutions – available through one team with one name – OffSite.