LC displays and color monitor included in this study cannot be recommended for diagnostic viewing. The loss of diagnostic validity might be attributable to the viewing-angle-dependent contrast of LC displays. However, no loss in diagnostic validity could be assessed for the tested grey-scale monitor.

Global studies have observed many techniques of manual dishwashing causing different levels of performance and using quite different amounts of water, energy, time and detergent. It is not known, however, if these techniques are pre‐assigned to a person and persist when dishes are washed under different conditions, or are adapted to the specific type of dish‐cleaning process. Here we explored this question in a study with 40 test subjects selected equally from Germany and East European countries by asking them to wash two place settings of dishes with different amounts of soil three times. The results showed that the test subjects did not adapt their washing‐up behaviour to the amount of soil. In general, no significant differences were found in the water, energy and detergent consumption for all test subjects. Only the time used by the German test subjects to wash the fully soiled dishes was significantly longer compared with the dishes with only a quarter the quantity of soil, and no significant difference was observed for all other parts. The only significant difference found between the level of soiling of the dishes was the cleaning result achieved: The less soiled the dishes were, the better the final cleaning result was, and this related to all test subjects. This lends support to the proposition that the consumers did not adapt their washing‐up behaviour to the specific circumstances of the dishwashing job to be done but retained some pre‐assigned behaviour.

Zusammenfassung AbstractWithin a hospital, the radiologist considerably influences the patient's length of stay through the availability of service and diagnostic information. Therefore, coordination and timing radiologic examinations become increasingly more important. Physicians are not taught organizational management during their medical education and residency training, and the necessary expertise in economics is generally acquired through literature or specialized courses. Beyond the medical service, the physicians are increasingly required to optimise their work flow according to economic factors. This review introduces various tools for process management and its application in radiology. By means of simple paper-based methods, the work flow of most processes can be analysed. For more complex work flow, it is suggested to choose a method that allows for an exact qualitative and quantitative prediction of the effect of variations. This review introduces network planning technique and process simulation. Process management

EinführungDas hier vorgestellte Softwaretool wurde im Rahmen einer Studie zur Arbeitsprozessevaluation in unserer Abteilung entwickelt [1]. In dieser Studie wurde ein Arbeitsablauf per Computer simuliert, um Aussagen über seine Leistungsfähigkeit sowie über den Effekt von Veränderungen zu erhalten [2,3].Arbeitsprozesse lassen sich unter verschiedenen Gesichtspunkten analysieren und evaluieren. Die Wahl der Evaluationsmethode hängt von der Fragestellung ab, unter der ein Prozess betrachtet wird, sowie von den Kenngrößen, deren Veränderung eine Aussage über die Qualität des Prozesses erlauben sollen. Uniform ablaufende Arbeitsprozesse, wie sie in diagnostischen und therapeutischen Funktionsbereichen häufig anzutreffen sind, lassen Zusammenfassung Zielsetzung: Entwicklung und Evaluation einer Software für die zeitliche Erfassung parallel ablaufender Arbeitsvorgänge im Rahmen des Workflow-Managements in einer radiologischen Abteilung. Methodik: Die Software-Applikation wurde mit Microsoft Access2000 und der Programmiersprache VisualBasic for Applications erstellt. Bei der Beobachtung von 140 Ultraschalluntersuchungen wurde sie zur Messung der einzelnen Vorgangsdauern eingesetzt. Die Anzahl erfasster Vorgänge pro Zeiteinheit wurde ermittelt und mit der papierbasierten Methode verglichen. Ergebnis: Die Dauern mehrerer parallel ablaufender Vorgänge können zuverlässig protokolliert werden. Die Anzahl von Messungen pro Zeiteinheit wurde gegenüber der papierbasierten Methode etwa verdreifacht. Die Software steht unter http://radportal.charite.de/otherhtml/stoppuhrdownload.html zum kostenlosen Download bereit. Schlussfolgerung: Es wurde ein Softwaretool entwickelt, das eine zuverlässige, zügige und komfortable Erfassung von Vorgangsdauern im Rahmen der Arbeitsprozessanalyse ermöglicht. SchlüsselwörterProzessmanagement · Ultraschall · Zeitmessung · Prozesssimulation · Workflow Abstract Aim: To develop and evaluate a software for time measurements of parallel work steps for work flow management in a radiological department. Methods: The software application was developed by use of Microsoft Access2000 and the programming language VisualBasic for Applications. It was used to measure the activity duration of 140 ultrasound examinations. The number of measurements per time unit was recorded and compared to the paper based method. Results: The software allows for reliable recording of parallel activities. The number of measurements per time unit was tripled compared to the paper based method. The software is available for free download under http://radportal.charite.de/otherhtml/stoppuhrdownload.html. Conclusion: An application for quick, reliable and comfortable measurements of activity durations was developed.

A digital infrastructure possesses a great potential for efficiency provided that it is implemented comprehensively and the work flow is adapted utilizing the capabilities of automation in all work processes.