Purpose: Patient data are increasingly distributed between
hospitals using CD-ROMs instead of actual films. This
introduces problems because different viewers from
different vendors are provided, and sometimes viewers
are unusable because local software installation is not
allowed. In 2004,we started to facilitate the incorporation
of CD-ROM data into the normal workflow of the hospital
by using commercially available software to perform
patient reconciliation based on the DICOM(digital imaging
and communication in medicine) modality worklist. The
purpose of the current study is to evaluate this new
procedure. Methods and Materials: A questionnaire was
sent to all users to evaluate the satisfaction with the
current facility and to evaluate possible improvements.
Several quality parameters on speed and satisfaction
were rated on a 5-point scale (1=bad to 5=excellent).
Results: Replies from 17 different respondents were
evaluated, accounting for an average of 76 CD-ROMs
per week. Mean (median) results showed a score of
3.6 (4) for handling time, 3.4 (4) for archival of second
opinion data, 3.8 (median 4) for archival of external
data onto the web server, and 4.5 (median 5) for the
overall performance of the current procedure. Conclusion:
Although some improvements can be made,
storage of the study data from CDs from outpatients
into PACS (picture archiving and communication system)
and web server already provides for an existing
need. Using this service, physicians can access the
data with ease and familiarity. User satisfaction with
the provided solution is high.
between institutions is shifting toward shipment of
CD-ROMs instead of the actual films. Although
this is a positive change in terms of costs, it also has
its disadvantages. One of the main problems is how
to integrate these CD-ROMs into the normal
workflow. Although most CD-ROMs are equipped
with a dedicated viewer, these viewers are different
per vendor and thus, users have to learn to operate
many different software packages. Some of the
software packages also require installation on the
local work station, which is not always possible for
security reasons. To solve these problems, we
included the study data from the CD-ROMs into
the normal hospital workflow.1,2 To achieve this,
all DICOM (digital imaging and communication
in medicine) files from the CD-ROM are read, the
DICOM header is changed (reconciliated) to
comply with the patient ID and accession number
used in our institution, and the data are either
stored into the PACS (picture archiving and
communication system) or the web server. Only
second opinion cases are stored into the PACS; all