Welcome to the first installment of this year's Road to RSNA preview of the RSNA 2010 conference in Chicago. For the second year in a row, we're providing a modality-by-modality overview of the most important scientific sessions, poster presentations, and educational exhibits to serve as your guide to events at McCormick Place.
PACS enthusiasts will have a plethora of educational opportunities to choose from as they plan their conference schedules.
Image sharing also remains at the forefront of PACS investigations, as researchers continue to address this critical aspect of digital image management. In other notable areas of emphasis, increasing concern over the risk of repetitive stress injuries for radiologists has led to a renewed focus on ergonomics in the digital reading room.
Check out our preview below of a selection of PACS-related scientific papers, posters, and educational exhibits at this year's RSNA meeting. And also stay tuned for more radiology informatics coverage in our upcoming Healthcare Informatics and Advanced Visualization Road to RSNA sections.
Refresher courses
As in previous years, a full slate of PACS refresher courses will be available for RSNA attendees. Those seeking to learn more about new image acquisition modalities might be interested in a refresher course titled "Informatics in Practice" on Sunday, November 28. Given in partnership with the Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine (SIIM), the session will include talks on data management and workflow, CT imaging, and digital mammography (2:00 p.m.-3:30 p.m.; RC126A, B, and C; Room S403B).
For those with a commercial bent, a Sunday course aims to educate radiology IT vendors on how they can help their customers achieve "meaningful use" from their radiology IT investments -- and qualify for stimulus funding (2:30 p.m.-3:30 p.m., IX11, Room S103AB).
Enterprise imaging is the topic of a refresher course on Monday, November 29, also given in partnership with SIIM. Attendees will learn about managing images from pathology, cardiology, and other nonradiology areas (8:30 a.m.-10:00 a.m.; RC226A, B, and C; Room S403A).
But that's not the only PACS-oriented refresher course on Monday morning. In a session on IT management for radiologists, RSNA attendees will be able to take in talks on understanding your IT organization, bridging the gap between the radiologist and IT, and how a radiologist can communicate effectively with IT (8:30 a.m.-10:00 a.m.; RC230A, B, and C; Room S504AB).
Later Monday morning, a second Informatics in Practice refresher course -- given again in partnership with SIIM -- will shed light on key issues such as redesigning the radiology reading environment, changing PACS, and advanced imaging techniques (10:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m.; II22A, B, and C; Room S501ABC).
Radiologists also won't want to miss a Monday afternoon course on how to add millions of dollars to your practice by demonstrating meaningful use of healthcare IT (3:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m., IX21, Room S402AB).
PACS quality control is the topic for a Tuesday afternoon refresher course, where attendees will hear presentations on the radiologist's role in the image quality process, data integrity, and implementing a display quality control program (4:30 p.m.-6:00 p.m.; RC426A, B, and C; Room E351).
Anyone interested in image exchange -- and who isn't these days? -- will want to get an early start on Thursday, December 2. Talks on the XDS-I Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) profile, practical applications of XDS-I, and image CD importation are scheduled for this morning refresher course (8:30 a.m.-10:00 a.m.; RC630A, B, and C; Room S102C).
