Setup Remote Radiology Interpretation in Under Two Hours

The COVID-19 pandemic has made evident the need for dynamic solutions within the field of medical imaging and radiology. The pandemic has also laid bare the inadequacies in the conventional systems.

A Technological Push

Radiology must move towards the remote interpretation of medical images. This is vital for a pandemic like situations which mandate strict social distancing norms. This would also require a great deal of technical upgradation. It will help to ensure the safety of healthcare professionals while at the same time ensuring that healthcare services are able to continue unhindered.

RIS PACS Software

Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS) based medical imaging has come a long way. However, the chinks in the armor are coming into more focus. The challenges that we are facing today force us to rethink. A shortage in radiologists, the time-lags in the transfer of medical imaging data and the need for evolving strategies that can safeguard radiologists at work during pandemic situations are all issues that need to be addressed. But what is the solution?

Equipping Conventional PACS With Remote CapabilitiesRIS PACS Software

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic forced many radiology departments in hospitals to consider remote solutions. Even those who were vehement supporters the need for a physical presence in radiology. Many conventional PACS based departments did indeed take their operations to remote workstations. But how effective were they?

Shifting the operations of a conventional PACS based system to remote workstations is seen to be a tedious process. Recent attempts to do so in some institutions took more than 2 weeks to bear fruit. These endeavors made use of VPN systems. Getting the VPN system running, and other hardware required added investment.

Such processes have several financial and technical constraints. The departments will have to allocate resources on a priority basis, and it will not be possible to provide all radiologists with remote workstations.

Is this the right way forward? We need better solutions that are less cumbersome and more prudent economically while at the same time providing efficient performance.

The LifeVoxel Way

For years now, companies such as LifeVoxel.AI have been pushing for better and more powerful technology in medical imaging.RIS PACS Software

With the successful incorporation of high-end technology such as AI, cloud computing and GPU, LifeVoxel.AI can provide immediate access to patients scan using just a web browser and a mobile phone with 4G capabilities. This allows radiologists to access medical scans with zero-latency. It can deliver rapid screening facilities and cut down on turnaround time.

Rapid Connection to Legacy Systems

LifeVoxel.AI can set up remote workstations for radiology interpretation with instant login access for radiologists. Connection to legacy PACS systems can be done in less than 2 hours. Existing PACS systems require independent radiologists working remotely for different centers to be logged into different PACS. The platform used by LifeVoxel.AI can abstract the connection to various PACS at different hospitals. Thus, radiologists do not have to log in and report on multiple systems. Radiologists are offered maximum convenience and enhanced productivity is obtained.RIS PACS Software

A cost-based analysis also shows the LifeVoxel solution to be more productive. No added heavy financial investment is needed to purchase expensive hardware.

The need to move onto medical imaging solutions which use better technology is more pronounced today. We need to be prepared for COVID-19 like situations. Conventional RIS PACS Software systems are highly inadequate. We need to promote solutions such as the ones offered by LifeVoxel which provide advanced visualization capabilities even from remote locations. We need to invest more in creating and popularizing healthcare solutions that are technologically superior to realize better healthcare performance.

References

At-home PACS workstations enable social distancing

https://www.auntminnie.com/index.aspx?sec=sup&sub=pac&pag=dis&ItemID=129087

Teleradiology adoption spiked during COVID-19 and is likely to continue

https://www.healthimaging.com/topics/imaging-informatics/teleradiology-adoption-spiked-covid-19

Where to now?

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