Health Imaging & IT - March 2008 - (Page 17)

i n s i d e c a R d i ac i M ag i n g By Beth Walsh THE CHANGING FACE OF THE digitized, streamlined information systems in the cardiac catheterization lab drive efficiency, healthcare quality and patient safety. at a time when more and more specialists are using cath lab facilities for a wider range of procedures, electronic data helps facilities get the most out of their equipment investment. Managing cOMpetitiOn Seton Medical Center Williamson (SMCW) in round rock, Texas, just opened in February with technology no one else in town has, according to Julia Davis, rN, a cath lab manager. That includes the Allura Xper FD20/10, the Allura Xper FD10/10 with the Allura 3D-CA interventional tool and Allura 3D-rA interventional tool from Philips Healthcare. The equipment allows for a single contrast injection and rotational images. The ability to view all coronaries with one shot lets the clinicians use less contrast. “Contrast-induced nephropathy is held off greatly. That’s a tremendous aspect,” she says. Another plus for the new facility is full electronic charting and an Xcelera archiving system that lets any physician pull up any study done within the network. The system is “a great electronic tool,” Davis says, that lets doctors review studies with patients. With ADT and HL7 interfaces, reports for registered patients can be autopopulated, reducing clerical errors and physician time spent creating the report. Those reports interface to the main registration center. Physicians can dictate or write reports on the fly and include images, all of which automatically go into the patient’s medical record. More and more endovascular work is being performed in the cath lab, Davis says, so “the reality is that everything needs to be kept as one chart—the whole vasculature.” There is less distinction between cardiology and radiology, for example, if the peripheral arteries in the leg are examined. So, the latest systems serve as one big repository for patients’ vasculatory studies. integRatiOn fOR enHanced WORKflOW Stephen Green, MD, associate director of the cardiac catheterization lab at North Shore university Hospital (NSuH) in Manhasset, N.Y., has been using a digital cath lab for the past eight years. over the years, the facility has continued to install new labs in addition to upgrading old labs with digital technolHealthImaging.com [ Allura Xper from Philips Healthcare is in use at the brand new Seton Medical Center Williamson in Round Rock, Texas. ] March 2008 | Health Imaging & IT 17 http://HealthImaging.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Health Imaging & IT - March 2008

Health Imaging & IT - March 2008 Table of Contents On the Web The Enterprise: Communicating Better News Update Critical Test Results Management: The Human Touch The Changing Face of the Cath Lab Cardiovascular CT: A Clinical Boon Cardiology PACS: Solutions to Fit Your Needs ACC 08: Building Quality & Value Together Picking the Perfect PACS Displays PET/CT: A Game-Changer in Cancer Patient Management DR: You Gotta Have IT – Delivering Speed, Efficiency, Savings Laser Imagers: Answering the Call for Hard Copy Reader's Resources Stat Sheet

Health Imaging & IT - March 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.