Dear AuntMinnie Member,
Will PACS survive as an independent discipline? Or will it be taken over by hospital IT departments, with radiology personnel losing control and influence over how the technology is used?
These are the questions asked by PACS consultant Mike Cannavo in a new installation of his Straight Talk From the PACSman column. In the article, Mike talks about the evolution of PACS, from its origins as a standalone system that pioneered the digitization of healthcare to its current status as a component of the integrated electronic health record.
While PACS faces major challenges to its independence, Mike believes it can still survive if some steps are taken. Find out what they are by clicking here, or visit our Imaging Informatics Community at informatics.auntminnie.com.
While you're in the community, check out a recent article on changes to physician licensing practices that could make it easier for doctors to get medical licenses across state lines -- providing a boon to teleradiology and telemedicine.
Boston Marathon imaging
Last year's Boston Marathon bombings highlighted the vital role that medical imaging plays in the treatment of trauma victims. This week, we're featuring an article that describes exactly how imaging exams guided the management of bombing victims.
Three people were killed and more than 260 were injured in the attacks, with survivors treated at 27 hospitals in the Boston area. Triage was complicated by the arrival of so many patients in such a short period of time, according to the researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital.
In the article, they report on the types of injuries and their presentation on CT and radiography exams. The group found that injuries varied depending on the impact of different blast waves from the explosion.
Learn more by clicking here, or visit the CT Digital Community at ct.auntminnie.com.
Tennis elbow and sonographers
Finally, we continue our popular Making a Difference as a Sonographer column with part 2 of a series of articles on tennis elbow.
In the new column, Doug Wuebben and Mark Roozen describe exercises that sonographers can perform to improve their stability and strength to relieve elbow pain. If you're a sonographer who is scanning in pain, you don't want to perform another study without reading this.
You'll find the article by clicking here, or visit our Ultrasound Digital Community at ultrasound.auntminnie.com.
