The introduction of PACS in a hospital opens up a new world for its users. The impact of PACS on the organization is huge. The new system brings about a dramatic change in workflow, and users must invest time and effort in learning to work with it.¹

The return on investment with PACS makes these efforts worthwhile. The benefits of PACS are tangible throughout all levels of a healthcare organization. Most important, the availability and accessibility of images and reports is increased, leading to better quality patient care and time savings for radiologists, technicians, and referring physicians.

PACS is also an excellent tool for training purposes. A report by a trainee radiologist, for example, can be labeled as “dictated” in the system. The report’s status may then be changed to “validated” when it has been checked by a radiologist. The “track revisions” function can be used to show trainees how their initial report was altered.

PACS ROLLOUT

PACS was introduced at Ghent University Hospital, where it was integrated with the RIS and speech recognition system. The PACS (GE Centricity) went live in the radiology department in March 2005. Hospital physicians were given access to the PACS in July 2005. The radiology department stopped printing film on 15 Feb. 2006.

Ghent University Hospital is the second largest single-campus hospital in Belgium. It employs around 4900 people (660 physicians and 1500 nurses) and has a capacity of 1062 inpatient beds plus 100 beds for outpatient procedures.