Newswatch: February 2006

Baltimore VA to house futuristic reading room for radiologists

GE Healthcare (Waukesha, Wis) is bringing the radiology reading room of the future to reality at the Baltimore Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center, a division of the VA Maryland Health Care System. Designed as a living, breathing showcase for filmless radiology imaging and interpretation, the new reading room—set to open this month—is intended to streamline the procedures and processes that impact treatment flow and patient throughput.

The fully customizable environments at the Baltimore VA Medical Center are designed to help prevent repetitive stress injuries in radiologists.

"GE's technologies will make the Baltimore VA Medical Center reading room one of the most advanced possible for radiologists," said Vishal Wanchoo , president and CEO of GE Healthcare Information Technologies. "The new reading room will be a prototype to guide GE's work to modernize other reading rooms at facilities across the country."

In contrast with today's reading rooms, which are not designed for computer interactions, technologies in this new reading room allow for the customization of almost every ergonomic component, enabling radiologists to optimize their environment for the demands and challenges of large dataset navigation.

Radiologists at the Baltimore VA also will be able to enjoy new ergonomic furniture and computer-controlled lighting and acoustic systems, a result of extensive research done by GE Healthcare, architects, and ergonomic experts on the workflow habits of radiologists.

"GE worked closely with the facility and its architects to design the room, taking many facets of workflow into consideration," Wanchoo said. "From lighting and ventilation to desk and chair height, it's all adjustable so that many body types and work habits can be accommodated."

Research at the Baltimore VA found that environmental factors, such as lighting and monitor brightness, had the greatest impact on radiologist productivity and fatigue. As a result, ambient lighting in the reading room will be optimized using blue light-emitting diode (LED) lights for increased energy efficiency and reduced eye fatigue. The cool blue lighting in these environments will sharply contrast the darkened reading rooms with glowing LCD displays, which, according to studies by GE Healthcare's lighting business, increase lighting contrast that can contribute to dry eyes and, ultimately, eye fatigue.

Acoustics also were considered during the initial design of the reading room. Focused sound will be introduced to minimize ambient noise by directing computer-generated audio, such as dictation and teleconferences, to specific areas around the radiologists in such a way that others in the reading room will not be disturbed. This feature also will aid in patient privacy, as confidential patient information typically exchanged in consultations will be minimized or masked completely.

"Reading rooms are often poorly lit, noisy, and uncomfortable," said Sheryl Schulze of The Environment Group (Chicago), the design consultant for the project. "As a result, many radiologists end up fatigued, stressed, or suffer from repetitive stress injuries. The standard provisions typically provided in these environments do not support the functions and tasks required by the radiologist to perform successfully."