Originally published on JS PACS, March 7, 2009. This introduced the Radiology Workflow series; the QA, paperless, and prefetching pieces that followed are also in the archive.
Radiology workflow! It is where the money is in the PACS world. Even the most technically superior PACS will not deliver the expected ROI if a department can’t get its electronic processes right.
As a PACS administrator, understanding the processes within the department helps you know where to look when specific incidents occur. A solid understanding of how information travels through the department will also let you analyze your PACS and make improvements when you are not getting the performance you expected. Installing a new PACS? This information will be instrumental in preparing for it.
As you progress through this section, you will find information about how a typical imaging department operates from the time an order is entered until the final report is signed.
If you are the IT-born PACS administrator, this section is critical for you. For the rad-tech-born PACS administrator, some of it will be review, but some of it will also help you understand what is happening behind the scenes in the HIS/RIS and PACS.
Topics in the Radiology Workflow series include order entry specifics, modality worklist selection, image acquisition, study reading, and report generation.