April 01, 2005

Filmless Radiology Debuts At Illini Campus

PACS system now at all Genesis hospitals

With a few clicks at the computer, a doctor treating a trauma patient at Genesis Medical Center’s Illini Campus can now send digital images of a CT scan to a neurologist at a Genesis hospital in Davenport...

A patient who has X-rays taken at the Illini Campus Emergency Room over the weekend can automatically have the digital images available for a Monday appointment with his physician. There’s no need for a courier or the patient to transport the films...

Cardiologists in Silvis and Davenport can confer on a case by simultaneously calling up catheterization lab images onto their computers...

A high-tech addition
This week, the x-ray films that have long been a mainstay at Illini Campus have been replaced with digital images that can be electronically stored and accessed by computer. The new Picture Archiving and Communication System, or PACS, eliminates the need for transporting and storing images.

The debut of PACS at Illini Campus culminates a process that also has brought the system to Genesis Medical Center’s two campuses in Davenport; the Genesis Imaging Center in Bettendorf; and to the DeWitt campus.

“It’s tremendous technology that is more efficient and productive than the traditional X-ray images that had to be physically put in patients’ charts; kept for several years in a storage room; and, physically transported to the caregivers who needed to view them,” said Brandi Erickson, Assistant Radiology and PACS Manager at the Illini Campus.

“Now that we’ve implemented the system at Illini, the entire health system is tied together onto one system to ultimately bring more efficient patient care.”

PACS is one of many innovative technologies available at Genesis Health System that helped it earn recognition as one of the nation’s top 100 “Most Wired” hospitals. Last July, Hospitals & Health Networks magazine recognized Genesis for its leadership in establishing electronic medical records that improve patient safety and quality of care.

“It’s a huge impact that we no longer will have to store radiological films or have the chemicals and costs associated with their production,” Erickson said. “With less storage needed, it also will open up more space for the hospital.”

Other improvements
The Picture Archiving Communication System comes on the heels of other radiological improvements at the Illini Campus, including a new CT scanner and new mammography equipment offering more comfortable mammograms that use less radiation. A new outpatient MRI center -- Illini MRI, LLC -- offers high quality images, more patient comfort and shorter exam times.