HealthCare Systems

Archive for the ‘Laboratory’ Category

Medical facilities both large and small have come to rely on the DICOM medical imaging format as the basis from which their entire radiology departments operate. DICOM is similar to JPEG format that is used on personal computers as an image format for photographs, but DICOM has been designed for use in a medical environment. Because of that, it is the universal language that medical image acquisition, archival, viewing and distribution equipment uses so that all of the different components can read each other’s data. A DICOM viewer is a key component that everyone who works in radiology uses for looking at digital medical images.

At their hearts, DICOM viewers are personal computers that are running viewing software. With this software in place the viewer enables users to display and edit digital medical images. Some viewers are also connected to the Internet. With this additional feature, digital images may be sent over the Internet, which enables consultations with physicians located anywhere in the world with a workstation running the appropriate software. This translates into time and money saved, with the added benefit of better patient care being the result.

Digital medical images of all varieties can be viewed on DICOM viewers. This includes those that offer 3D renderings. These viewers offer physicians the ability to look at cross sections of images, rotate them and look at selected slices of an image, something that was impossible with a film image.

Many medical facilities also use these digital viewers to help them stay in compliance with HIPPA regulations concerning patient privacy. Everyone using the viewer must be given a username and password and must log in to have access to digital images, and this control mechanism helps to provide security to the system.

Another benefit that medical facilities with viewers enjoy is the speed and savings that they achieve. With the click of a mouse and within seconds, authorized personnel can bring up any digital images that they require, unlike using hard-copy film images that required a great deal of physical labor for maintenance and use. Because the speed helps to improve workflow, it also helps to save the medical office money as well.

Many medical offices rely on portable x-ray systems to help them meet the needs of patients who cannot travel to their facilities for treatment. Physicians who work in nursing homes, sports stadiums or on cruise ships will need a portable x-ray imaging medical device to help them take digital medical images for patients who are not at a home medical facility. When the portable digital x-ray machine is coupled with a PACS system loaded onto a laptop computer with a wireless Internet connection, the physician will be able to not only capture digital images, but also view them, transmit them and then store them with the help of the computer system.

A portable x-ray system that produces DICOM medical images brings all the practicality found in a full office-sized radiology suite to your off-site patients but in a compact package. Systems are available featuring CR or DR imagers, and both can be used in a portable environment. These mobile imagers are typically used with wheeled carts, making it easy to move the equipment to the patient. The weight of the equipment is much lighter than a full-sized imager, and comes in at around ninety pounds. Models are available that can fit into a mobile unit, making it much easier to pack and unpack the necessary devices to obtain the digital images that you need.

You can gain an extra level of versatility from the portable equipment when you also utilize a PACS system on a laptop personal computer. The PACS component will allow you to view, send, receive and archive the digital images that you take while away from your home office. This means that you can use the laptop as you would a workstation. The PACS will help you enhance the digital images that you take, and you can immediately send them over a secure wireless Internet connection to consulting physicians who have access to a workstation running PACS. Peripherals such as printers can also be attached to the laptop computer, allowing you to print if needed. You can also store the digital DICOM images that you take while away from the home facility on your laptop, or send them via the Internet to a secure storage archive, where they will be ready for you or other colleagues to access when needed.

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