Integrating images into a central medical information system.
Of the information items that must be easily available to the different actors involved in the care process, radiological images are not the least important. While until recently it was not feasible to include these into the medical information system, this situation has changed. Still, emphasis in PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication Systems) is primarily on the technological aspects. In this paper, in contrast, we stress the importance of integration of images into the overall workflow and into the overall medical record. We do so using illustrations from the PACS project of the University Hospitals Leuven. We briefly indicate that tight integration at the user interface level is needed, and that this requires more than standardized communication between subsystems.
Bellon
E
E
Department of Information Systems, University Hospitals Leuven, Herestraat 49, 3000 Leuven, Belgium.
Feron
M
M
Deprez
T
T
Pauwels
H
H
Vanautgaerden
M
M
De Deurwaerder
A
A
Reynders
R
R
Reviers
W
W
Draelants
B
B
Suetens
P
P
Marchal
G
G
Van Den Bosch
B
B
D003199:Computer Systems; D003628:Database Management Systems / Q000458:organization & administration; D006751:Hospital Information Systems / Q000458:organization & administration*; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval / Q000379:methods; D016347:Medical Records Systems, Computerized / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011873:Radiology Information Systems / Q000458:organization & administration*; D018511:Systems Integration; D014584:User-Computer Interface