There are probably a few PACS out there that have yet to fulfill all of the expectations.
So how much time after “go-live” should it take to achieve the goals that were originally set? Is it time for a check up?
There ís probably nothing seriously wrong with the system, certainly not enough to suggest it should be replaced. Maybe there are just little things, details that can only come to light after you’re up and running. A year or more of run time is more than enough experience with the system. By now you should be very close to achieving that drop in film demand. You should know exactly what the problems are, and how you’re going to correct them. If not, maybe it’s time for a check-up.
Take a look at these check-up questions and test yourself with the answers.
Check-up questions
- How close are you to achieving the drop in film costs projected in those pre-PACS plans? Exactly what is keeping you from reaching that goal?
- How many of the true image users in the referral community are still asking for film? What are your current plans for correcting that?
- How close are you to eliminating the problems caused by paper in the workflow?
- Have you thought of more than five ways to use the CD?
- What can you do to reduce the report turnaround time even further?
- Have you been successful establishing a “virtual seat” for the Emergency Department and high-value outpatient studies?
- What features unique to PACS have your radiologists adopted in an effort to attract more referrals?
- Besides sticking a display in the ED, what have you done to improve the workflow between the Emergency Department and Radiology?
- Who spends more time per study on QC tasks, your technologists or the system administrator?
- What is your long-term plan for the inevitable data migration?
Take the check-up test yourself, and let me know what the results were when you took it.