Open-source software aids in QA data collection

This scientific poster will address the facility certification process, with University of California, San Diego (UCSD) researchers presenting their use of an open-source software application called AutoHotkey to automatically populate quality assurance data collection forms with information from a PACS.

At La Jolla-based UCSD, AutoHotkey was used to write four macros to create data collection forms, which are automatically prefilled with the information of the study displayed in PACS, according to author Dr. Amilcare Gentili. These macros rate radiologist interpretation accuracy, resident interpretation accuracy, radiographic image quality, and cross-sectional image quality.

After activating AutoHotkey by pressing a shortcut key, physicians need only to rate the study and either select a comment from a list or enter free text in the comment section. The rest of the process (opening the data collection form and grabbing the hospital number, accession number, patient name, and preliminary resident interpretation of the current patient from the PACS display window) is handled by AutoHotkey.

The macros have quickened the speed of data collection and also increased the frequency of studies rated by radiologists, according to Gentili. AutoHotkey is free and works with many different PACS software applications.