No matter what field you are thinking of, it makes sense that you need the right tools in order to get the job done efficiently. If you are a dancer, you need tap shoes. A carpenter needs the right hammer and saw to complete the job. So, too, does a medical office need the appropriate equipment to function at full capacity. One of the best pieces of hardware you can add to your office is a DICOM web viewer. This is used in conjunction with pacs software, or as part of a ris/pacs system, and the dicom viewer allows you to see, send and receive digital medical images on your screen, as well as archive them. Having a fleet of dicom viewers throughout your medical facility will help to improve workflow tremendously.
One of the best aspects of using a DICOM web viewer is how it provides the immediate nature of the Internet at your fingertips. The dicom reader allows you to see medical digital images, which can include multi-slice CT images, ultrasounds, mammograms, MRIs, x-rays, dental images, veterinary images and others, from any Dicom modality instantly when you retrieve them from your digital archive, or receive them over a secure online transmission line. There is no more waiting for patient images to be mailed or delivered to your office, because that turnaround time has been eliminated through the use of dicom viewers and digital imaging. Consultation and collaboration in real time are much more easily possible when all medical personnel involved in a patient’s care each utilize a dicom viewer. The use of digital imaging and a dicom viewer leads to a much improved turnaround time on patient diagnoses, which also improves patient care.
Documents can also be read on a dicom reader. This speeds up retrieval times, because you can bring up both patient digital images as well as records on your DICOM web viewer. By using a dicom reader, you also have immediate access to important information including the date the images were taken and where, along with patient identification, thus reducing the chances of mixing up patient records tremendously.
A great deal of time and expense can also be saved when you use a dicom viewer and pacs software for digital image archiving. In order to meet HIPPA standards, patient medical images must be stored for seven to ten years. With hard copy images, this means a lot of money spent on storage space and personnel for filing, retrieval and maintenance of those files. Now, you can archive thousands of patient images in a server that will take up less space than your desk, and retrieve any image you want immediately to view on your DICOM web viewer. Offsite archiving is also much easier and less costly to accomplish when using pacs software with a dicom reader. For all of these reasons, your office will experience a more effective workflow when you utilize the power of a DICOM web viewer.
