Health Imaging & IT - December 2008 - (Page 18)

MAnAgIng TeChnoLogy By Jonathan Batchelor A Workflow STRATEGIES & Advanced Visualization Advanced visualization technology in medicine, the utilization of software-based tools for image reconstruction and analysis, is generally accepted as the province of diagnostic radiology. However, other medical disciplines such as radiation oncology, cardiology, and orthopedics are employing these applications to deliver effective treatment, identify and track the progression of disease as well as plan surgical interventions. s the technology rapidly moves beyond its radiology-centric origins, a wider variety of clinicians are demanding access to processed image reconstructions—and they want the image datasets as quickly as possible. The embrace of advanced visualization software by the clinical continuum presents workflow challenges to a practice utilizing the technology, according to Paul J. Chang, MD, professor and vice-chairman of radiology informatics as well as medical director of pathology informatics at the University of Chicago School of Medicine, and medical director of enterprise imaging at the University of Chicago Hospitals. “There are three dominant workflow models for advanced visualization processing,” Chang says. “The radiologist can do it; a super-technologist trained on the software can do it; or you can outsource it.” In the diagnostic trenches, most practices opt for a hybrid that may incorporate all three models, he says. However, irrespective of what model is being used, a group must have an infrastructure in place that does advanced visualization processing efficiently. “Your infrastructure and workflow model has to be agile, flexible and scalable enough to be able to support all three dominant models simultaneously,” Chang says. “Most facilities will have the radiologist and super-tech model in place, and there are some that use all three models.” For example, in his role as a diagnostic radiologist, he finds that there are some reconstructions that require more of his time to perform than is practical given the volume of imaging exams he must interpret. In these cases, it is vastly more efficient and economical for a technologist skilled in utilization of the advanced visualization software to perform the image processing, and then have it sent to him for clinical interpretation. Elliot Fishman, MD, professor of radiology and oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, and director of diagnostic imaging and HealthImaging.com 18 Health Imaging & IT | December 2008 http://www.HealthImaging.com

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Health Imaging & IT - December 2008 Table of Contents The Enterprise News Update Technology at Work: What You Need to Compete Why 1.5T MRI is Leading the Pack Workflow Strategies Aid Advanced Visualization Deployment Illuminating Reading Room Design for Better Reading Strategies Cardiac SPECT Sharpens its Focus OrthoPACS: The Information Backbone of the Orthopedic Clinic Imaging Tools Reader's Resource

Health Imaging & IT - December 2008

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