Health Imaging & IT - October 2007 - (Page 53) The group was the first to provide PACS services to the community, via a teleradiology network, and its IT infrastructure has evolved as the practice has added more modalities and services. Its referring clinician base is able to access images and reports through a secure network connection into the PACS. Nied has been through a pair of PACS deployments and learned first-hand about some of its pitfalls. “One of our biggest challenges a few years ago was getting servers and workstations with enough computing horsepower to run the applications our radiologists use,” he says. “For awhile we were building our own custom server workstations to meet our needs. We’re just now getting back to replacing these homebuilt machines with commercial models, in order to meet service requirements.” The PACS runs on a 100 megabit fiber ring that is connected to each of Radiology, Ltd.’s facilities, so network throughput has not yet been an issue for Nied, even with image volume in the practice’s workload. The group maintains its own image management through both networkattached storage (NAS) and storagearea networks (SANs) that can provide real-time fail-over service as part of the practice’s disaster recovery plan. Nied learned early on that the addition of any new service line or modality to the practice would have a direct impact on archive capabilities, so the IT group is part of the team that helps develop new offerings. This allows it to plan for the front-end deployment of the new service through the PACS as well as assuring a seamless archival strategy on the back end. For facilities looking to deploy an enterprise PACS, Nied recommends looking to a vendor that can offer a one-stop shop for its system needs. “You should research the companies HealthImaging.com Listening. Understanding your needs. It’s how we’ve become a world leader in speech recognition for clinical documentation. Our exceptionally accurate product, SpeechQ for RadiologyTM, sets a new level of excellence in speech recognition. Finally, a speech recognition tool that lives up to radiologists’ expectations of working fast, accurately and efficiently. Visit www.medquist.com. And be inspired. Visit us at RSNA Booth 3929. ©2007 MedQuist IP Corporation. MedQuist is a registered trademark of MedQuist IP Corporation. All rights reserved. Health Imaging & IT | O C T O B E R 2 0 07 53 http://www.medquist.com http://www.medquist.com http://HealthImaging.com
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