SALT LAKE CITY - The Symposium for Computer Applications in Radiology has become the premier PACS conference outside of the annual RSNA meeting. And SCAR conference organizers are not resting on their laurels -- they've expanded the meeting's popular SCAR University curriculum and added several educational opportunities to this year's program.
Building on the success of its first year, SCAR's didactic educational program, SCAR University, has been expanded this year from 10 to 14 sections. SCAR U enrollees can now also attend sections on PACS administration, emerging technologies, speech recognition, and government initiatives.
SCAR U's traditional format will be retained, allowing enrollees the opportunity to attend introductory (101), intermediate (202), advanced (303), and graduate courses in the sections they're interested in, according to Dr. Bruce Reiner, co-chair of the SCAR 2001 education committee.
"If you're a novice, you could choose to sit through all the 101 courses," Reiner said. "Or, if you have an interest in connectivity, for example, you can follow that section through all four courses."
The expansion of SCAR University is part of SCAR's efforts to make the meeting attractive to a wide audience, Reiner said.
"We're trying to reach out and make SCAR multidimensional," Reiner said. "We don't want to have just academic radiologists, physicists, and department administrators at the meeting. We've also been having success in attracting attendees outside of the radiology department, such as CIOs, and other hospital administrators."
The society has also been successful at involving the industry in the educational process. As was the case at SCAR 2000, several vendor representatives will be giving talks at SCAR University.
A new program addition -- guided exhibit hall tours -- will undoubtedly prove useful for prospective PACS purchasers looking to budget their browsing time wisely. Guided by a PACS consultant, SCAR attendees will be able to tour exhibits of several vendors on specific PACS topics:
- Web-based image management and communications
- Diagnostic/clinical/integrated workflow workstations
- Electronic archives and storage systems
- RIS/HIS/HIT integration (IHE)
- Digital imaging technologies (computed and direct radiography)
The tours will be 60 minutes to 75 minutes long, and sized at about 20 attendees per tour guide.
"If you're shopping for an archive, for example, you could take the (electronic archives and storage systems) tour, see four or five vendors, and hear what direction the vendors are going," Reiner said. "You could then go back later to see the vendors you're interested in, and maximize your time on the exhibit floor."
Of course, SCAR attendees will also be able to tour local PACS installations. Available for touring this year: LDS Hospital, Primary Children's Medical Center (PCMC), and University of Utah Health Science Center (UUHC).
In other new developments, the society's research and development committee will discuss its original research on compression algorithms. The research, led by the Mayo Clinic's Dr. Bradley Erickson, will be presented at the meeting, as well as a national survey on technologist productivity, co-sponsored by market research firm IMV of Des Plaines, IL.
SCAR will also be unveiling a new Web initiative, SCAR University Online, at the meeting. With the intent of making SCAR University a year-round educational program, the society will be posting multimedia presentations of introductory-level courses from the meeting. These presentations will include streaming video, PowerPoint presentations, text, and graphics, all in one format, Reiner said. Access will be available to SCAR members.
By Erik L. Ridley
AuntMinnie.com staff writer
May 3, 2001
Related Reading
SCAR expands program for 2001 meeting, March 20, 2001
SCAR debuts new digital imaging publications, October 25, 2000
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