Health Imaging & IT - May 2008 - (Page 43)

Sponsored by an educational grant from Siemens & EMC Corporation archive delivers images of any size within a few seconds, and progressive loading allows radiologists to begin image review as soon as they call up a case. Rapid image review is a key consideration for all radiology departments. Another driver is data security. The health system deployed a pair of EMC Centera storage solutions and writes studies to both servers located at the nearby data center, providing a foundation for the next step of the project: a true disaster recovery plan. Divisional Director of Pediatric Imaging lynne Hamer says that choosing to upgrade its Siemens syngo Suite RIS/PACS has brought true economic benefits namely a 40 percent jump in radiologist efficiency, $250,000 in film cost savings and vastly improved report turn-around times to 4 to 5 hours or less from 24 hours. syngo suite: in action Since transitioning to syngo Suite in January 2008, Children’s has realized a number of tangible benefits ranging from rapid image retrieval to improved report turn-around to reduced costs. What’s more, syngo Suite facilitates value-added imaging; the software helps radiologists to provide higher level service to specialists, clinicians and patients. Efficiency is often the first-line concern in radiology. As the tape library neared capacity in 2007, radiologists experienced lags in image retrieval time, which, in turn, impacted critical department and hospital functions including reporting and clinical decision-making. The primary factor behind the archive slowdown is 64-slice CT. Sixty-four slice CT is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it delivers tremendous improvements in diagnostic capabilities. On the other, it can burden the image archive, particularly for sites like Children’s that were using a first-generation tape library. It took up to six to eight minutes to retrieve large datasets prior to the deployment of syngo Suite and Centera. One of two EMC Centera content-addressed storage systems installed in the Children’s data center. right-click delivers any imaging data within a few seconds, says Odom. Another tape challenge stems from its frailty. Tape drives are prone to mechanical issues. If the tape mal- functions, it can take longer or may be impossible, for a time, to recall archived studies. Neither option represents an ideal business model. EMC Centera, on the other hand, is robust. Children’s installed two separate systems and image data are simultaneously written to each archive. “If there’s a problem with one system, it switches to the second, so radiologists never encounter a delay in image retrieval,” explains Odom. The outcome is ideal; the department’s eight radiologists are able to maintain a steady pace. Despite the apparent advantages of EMC CLARiiON CX series systems and EMC Centera active archiving storage solution, the health system has not yet realized all of the benefits of its advanced storage solution. That’s because some benefits will be realized in the future as the archive grows and Children’s develops its disaster recovery program. With EMC Centera, increasing information infrastructure capacity entails the simple addition of a new disk. In contrast, expanding the tape library required changing systems. Finally, EMC Centera provides a solid foundation for business continuity and disaster recovery. Children’s owns two separately housed systems. “Eventually we plan to move one archive to a hot site as a more robust disaster recovery plan,” explains Odom. The decision to deploy EMC Centera active archiving storage solution in conjunction with syngo Suite not only continues to pay dividends on a daily basis by enabling rapid image retrieval, but also represents a sound foundation for the future. EMC CLARiiON and EMC Centera can be easily scaled to meet growing needs and provides a framework for disaster recovery. HealthImaging.com May 2008 | Health Imaging & IT http://HealthImaging.com

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

Health Imaging & IT - May 2008 Contents On the Web The Enterprise News Update Convention Spotlight: SIIM 2008 Healthcare IT Salary Survey Survey Findings Inside the Transition to Next-Generation Image Management Blurring the Lines: Interfaced vs. Integrated RIS/PACS The Insider's Primer: Taming the Workflow Beast - Five Facilities Tell How Availability, Applications Drive New Archive Strategies Modality Review Managing Technology Inside Technology Reader's Resource Stat Sheet

Health Imaging & IT - May 2008

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