Part II: preparing and assessing first-year radiology resident on-call readiness technical implementation.
OBJECTIVE
The effectiveness of using a Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM)-based interactive examination system in evaluating the readiness of first year radiology residents before taking overnight call in the emergency department (ED) was reported in part I of this article. This report describes technical aspects for the design and implementation of this system.


METHODS
The examination system consists of two modules: Data Collection and Image Viewing. The Data Collection module was a personal computer (PC)-based DICOM storage server based on a free public domain software package, the Mallinckrodt Central Test Node. The Image Viewing module was a Java-based DICOM viewer created using another freeware package: zDicom ActiveX component.


RESULTS
The examination takes place once a year at the end of the first 6-month rotation. Cases selected for the examination were actual clinical cases according to the American Society of Emergency Radiology core curriculum. In the 3-hour timed examination, each resident was required to read the cases and provide clinical findings and recommendations. Upper-level residents also participated in the examination to serve as a control. Answers were scored by two staff radiologists.


CONCLUSIONS
We have been using this examination system successfully in our institution since 2003 to evaluate the readiness of the first-year residents before they take overnight call in the ED. This report describes a step-by-step procedure for implementing this system into a PC-based platform. This DICOM viewing software is available as freeware to other academic radiology institutions. The total cost for implementing this system is approximately 2000 US dollars.
Yam
Chun-Shan
CS
Department of Radiology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA. csyam@caregroup.harvard.edu
Kruskal
Jonathan
J
Pedrosa
Ivan
I
Kressel
Herbert
H