While the rapid expansion of digital radiology in the past decade has led to a shortage of qualified administrators and technicians, it has also spawned a number of schools to train healthcare workers in the new skills necessary to operate digital
While the rapid expansion of digital radiology in the past decade has led to a shortage of qualified administrators and technicians, it has also spawned a number of schools to train healthcare workers in the new skills necessary to operate digital radiology departments.
Schools such the PACS Administrator Training School run by SG&A Consulting have emerged.
Now, radiologic technologists (RT), many of whom face the same experience gap when applying for jobs in filmless radiology departments, have a PACS school of their own.
El Camino College in Torrance, CA, has incorporated a curriculum into its existing Radiologic Technology Program (RTP) designed to provide prospective radiologic technologists with training and experience with PACS and digital imaging modalities, beginning with computed radiography (CR) systems.
"To our knowledge, we are the first college to have a complete CR capability - modality, archive, workstation, and PACS," said Donald Visintainer, professor and RTP program director.
The catalyst of the PACS/CR program was the realization that El Camino was not keeping up with technology.
"If we believe what we say in our mission statement - that we're to prepare well-qualified imaging practitioners - then we're obligated to provide the opportunity to fulfill that objective," Visintainer said. "When none of the vendors could provide me with an RT program as a reference site, I knew that I was at the leading edge of technology."
In support of the program, El Camino, a Los Angeles-area community college, purchased and installed a Kodak DirectView CR 800 system, a PACS that includes a digital archive, a two-monitor review workstation, and a Kodak DryView 8100 laser imaging system. The college also purchased a laser film digitizer to convert existing film studies into a digital format for storage and access from the digital archive.
Kodak is supplying imaging studies, as well as training and presentation materials
During the course of study, students learn to use the CR system to create images from phantoms. Students then review and enhance the images on the PACS workstation. Visintainer grades students based on a soft-copy review of their images.
"Our goal is to teach students how to capture a good quality image, and how to enhance it," Visintainer said. "We want students to be able to use digital tools to create an optimal image for radiologists to review."
In addition to training current students, the college plans to launch community training courses for working radiologic technologists and has asked several local Kodak personnel to serve as guest lecturers.
Study: AI Boosts Ultrasound AUC for Predicting Thyroid Malignancy Risk by 34 Percent Over TI-RADS
February 17th 2025In a study involving assessment of over 1,000 thyroid nodules, researchers found the machine learning model led to substantial increases in sensitivity and specificity for estimating the risk of thyroid malignancy over traditional TI-RADS and guidelines from the American Thyroid Association.
Can CT-Based AI Provide Automated Detection of Colorectal Cancer?
February 14th 2025For the assessment of contrast-enhanced abdominopelvic CT exams, an artificial intelligence model demonstrated equivalent or better sensitivity than radiologist readers, and greater than 90 percent specificity for the diagnosis of colorectal cancer.
Emerging PET/CT Agent Shows Promise in Detecting PCa Recurrence in Patients with Low PSA Levels
February 13th 202518F-DCFPyL facilitated detection of recurrent prostate cancer in 51 percent of patients with PSA levels ranging between 0.2 to 0.5 ng/ml, according to new research presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Genitourinary Cancers (ASCO-GU) Symposium.