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ISDN/Medical Imaging
 Department of Veterans Affairs
Silver Spring, MD
USA
Year: 1993
Status: Laureate
Category: Medicine
Nominating Company: MCI Telecommunications Corporation |
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Until recently, crucial X-rays and images of slides were not stored in
information systems. The Department of Veterans Affairs Medical
Imaging System now provides physicians with access to images in
patient charts and in information systems throughout the hospital.
Images can also be transmitted. |
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The effective delivery of health care is dependent on a wide range
of
medical images. Manual and computer--based medical records
ordinarily do
not contain image data, leaving the physician to deal
with a fragmented
patient record widely scattered throughout the
hospital. The Medical
Imaging System developed by the Dept. of
Veterans Affairs (VA) makes
medical images (such as x--rays,
microscopic slides, endoscopic views,
and ultrasound scans)
available directly to physicians as an integrated
component of the
patient's computerized data. This imaginative system
integrates
state--of--the--art workstations, networking, and optical
disk storage
technology with existing government developed software to
improve
service to VA patients, simplify information retrieval
procedures, and
improve communications among VA clinicians. Specific
technical
accomplishments include (1) the development of a low cost,
high
resolution, true color image workstation suitable for use
throughout
VA hospitals and (2) the integration and networking of
these
workstations into the VA's existing hospital information system
(DHCP).
As a result of these two accomplishments, comprehensive
patient data
including both images and text can be efficiently
examined by hospital
physicians.
The DHCP Medical
Imaging System is currently installed in two V.A.
medical centers,
with five additional sites being installed in the
coming year. ISDN
telecommunications capability has been installed to
connect these
first two sites to allow cost--effective remote
teleconsultation by
expert physicians as well as system support
by
developers.
System impacts on care providers and
patients include: (1) it improves
the quality of patient care by
providing all patient data, reducing the
possibility of error based on
lack of data or nonstandard terminology
used to describe images;
(2) it increases communication among
clinicians, improving
continuity of care when multiple specialists are
involved (3) its
reduces physician time spent searching for data; (4) it
aids patients
in understanding their problems; (S) it allows
consultation with
physicians at other sites; (6) it assists in physician
education; and
(7) it may ultimately change the patterns of medical
practice. |
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