Digital Imaging for Health

Dr Mahibur Rahman

The Department of Health recently announced that Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS) will be installed in every NHS trust within three years as part of the NPfIT. This is a huge undertaking as currently only 25 (out of 178) acute trusts in England have PACS. PACS makes it possible to view and manipulate radiology images from any connected terminal in the hospital. This reduces repeat examinations and ends the need for house officers to traipse around wards collecting films for X-ray meetings. However, installing a PACS does bring with it new challenges. The images, once acquired, need to be stored securely, and made available to clinicians at the point of care. Displays need to be installed – with different users having differing requirements. Radiologists will require high resolution screens, where wards often have less expensive screens of a size and quality that makes it possible to appreciate the clinically important data within the images. Operating theatres provide even greater challenges – screens need to be protected from the splatter of contaminated materials (blood, chemicals etc.). As some trusts will get systems before others, patients travelling between sites for treatment may still need images printed
either on X-ray film, or using high quality laser or inkjet printers. Staff will need training in the new systems, and adequate resources (time, money, equipment) need to be allocated for this. This will itself be a big challenge as few clinicians and system administrators have experience of working with the new digital imaging systems. To help rectify this, I am currently setting up an online guide to digital imaging for healthcare, to explain the basics of digital imaging (including PACS), and to provide an independent source of information on the various components of digital imaging systems – displays, printers, digital cameras (used in dermatology and accident departments). The site is aimed at anyone working in healthcare that has an interest in digital imaging - clinicians, radiologists, system administrators. It will be free to access. I welcome any suggestions for topics to include and comments about specific systems people have used.

this article has been edited for this website. it was published in the summer 2004 edition of UK Health Informatics Today. a link to the original article is available from the [download] page