A growing number of hospital radiology administrators, radiologists, clinicians and technologists are beginning to consider, and in many cases, plan for a digital radiology department. They hope to follow in the footsteps of dozens of early adopters of digital technology. Radiology departments that were the first to take the bold step of going digital have proven that the benefits of implementing digital medical imaging technologies are far-reaching. They include not only increased productivity and enhanced workflow but also better patient care and improved public relations and staff recruiting efforts.

Digital radiology departments typically include a combination of computed radiography (CR), digital radiography (DR), picture archiving and communications systems (PACS), printers and service to keep everything running smoothly. Over the last decade digital technology has been refined and a wide array of options can be configured to meet the unique needs and objectives of all types of facilities. Indeed hospitals of various sizes and configurations have found that Eastman Kodak Co. (Rochester, N.Y.) is an ideal partner for their foray into digital radiology.

Digital technology has been successfully implemented in hospitals of all sizes. The saying “no job too big or small” applies nicely as facilities small and large are benefiting from the scalability and flexibility of digital technologies in ways they hoped for and, in fact, never even imagined.

A Digital Pioneer
St. John Medical Center in Tulsa, Okla., has one of the largest DR installations in the United States. The 750-bed hospital completes 134,000 imaging studies each year, and an additional 70,000 exams are completed at two outpatient centers. St. John Medical Center began its transition to digital in the dinosaur days of digital with the ultimate objective of going completely filmless. Phil Ames, administrative director of radiology, lists other key factors in the hospital’s decision. “We are interested in digital imaging technologies because of their ability to improve image quality and efficiency, and ultimately to enhance service to both hospital and referring physicians.”

St. John’s digital trek began eight years ago with a CR system connected to a laser printer for portable chest x-rays. Next the hospital laid the groundwork for digital imaging and installed a robust network. After these initial baby steps, the department pushed ahead and purchased four Kodak CRs and imaging workstations.

Ames and his colleagues realized the importance of having referring physicians on board with the digital plan, so the department put stand-alone workstations in the offices of a handful of referring physicians and began to route images to them. “The physicians loved those workstations,” Ames says.

The hospital added workstations to the ICU and other floors, and before long purchased a web server for use on the hospital floors. Ames beefed up the department’s digital backbone with DICOM upgrades, an RIS interface with worklist software, and a long-term storage archive for electronic imaging files. Its Kodak archive manager complements a GE Radworks PACS.

Ames credits the compatibility of the two systems to Kodak’s DICOM expertise. “The two systems work well together. We keep going back to Kodak because their DICOM is as good as it gets. Other vendors’ PACS work well with their products. With Kodak, if it’s DICOM, they can work with it.”

When DR hit the radiology market, Ames began considering DR vendors, and in 2001 the hospital made the jump to include DR and installed a Kodak DirectView DR 9000 in its main department. “Once we got used to DR, we were amazed at the amount of work coming out of the room,” Ames says. “We knew then that DR was the way to go.”

Please refer to the July 2002 issue for the complete story. For information on article reprints, contact Martin St. Denis