As radiology departments transition to near-complete digital information management, work flows and their supporting informatics infrastructure are becoming increasingly complex. Digital dashboards can integrate separate computerized information systems and summarize key work flow metrics in real time to facilitate informed decision making. A PACS-integrated digital dashboard function designed to alert radiologists to their unsigned report queue status, coupled with an actionable link to the report signing application, resulted in a 24% reduction in the time between transcription and report finalization. The dashboard was well received by radiologists who reported high usage for signing reports. Further research is needed to identify and evaluate other potentially useful work flow metrics for inclusion in a radiology clinical dashboard.

No abstract

Communication between clinicians, technologists, and radi ologists has become more complex, with Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS) now allowing the radiologist to be removed from the physical location of the patients and the site of imaging. With these changes, effective communication becomes an ongoing challenge. Efficient communication of study interpretations has also become a priority for radiologists as they struggle to maintain relevance and provide added value to patient care when clinicians have ready access to radiology images. The purpose of this paper is to share our experience in developing and implementing the Collaborative Notification System (CNS), a communication tool used to inform referring clinicians of urgent findings-a.k.a. Bwet reads.T he system utilizes a system of web pages integrated into PACS for the sending and receiving of succinct messages to provide clinical information at the point of need. A second system of pager alerts provides notification of the need for such communication through a relatively unintrusive, one-way, acknowledged alert system. The CNS provides asynchronous, integrated communication for the reporting of urgent and emergent radiology findings in a complex, geographically distributed medical environment.

Commercial picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) are adept at supporting mainstream radiology work flow, but radiologists frequently encounter situations requiring additional functionality. For example, the incorporation of foreign or nonradiologic images and the deidentification of examinations for research purposes are useful tasks that do not fall within the purview of most commercial PACS. A suite of free, downloadable, vendor-independent software programs designed as PACS add-ons, the SimpleDICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine) Suite, has been developed to aid radiologists in performing these tasks. Clinically relevant software design and informed administrative decisions during deployment allow optimal function of this software suite, which is available for download from the Internet.