Spanish radiology meeting gets wired

May 6, 2001

This is the second in an ongoing series of bilingual articles written for the radiology community in general, and the Spanish-speaking community in particular.

The radiologists of SERAM, the Spanish Society of Medical Radiology, are organizing their next meeting to be held in 2002. They plan to incorporate cutting-edge information technology systems in a comprehensive and practical range of applications.

Detailed plans are underway to encourage the use of information technology tools to facilitate meeting preparations, as well as presentations during the conference. SERAM's XXXVIth Congress will be held at Maspalomas, on Grand Canary Island, from May 11-14, 2002.

SERAM has passed a resolution that calls for the use of digital media for all meeting presentations, and the use of a central server and an Internet server to distribute communications throughout the meeting. Some presentations will be webcast live on the SERAM server. There will also be videoconferences, as well as the taping of sessions, posters, and presentations on CD-ROM and DVD.

The ambitious plan is already beginning to take shape, with a training program for radiologists, a how-to manual for preparing presentations with information technology, course writing, and a complete online help system, also located on the SERAM server.

The Radiología e-mail newsgroup will also be on hand to help. They'll do whatever it takes to ensure that no radiologist misses the old days of slide presentations, as they help attendees prepare, distribute, and present their work at the meeting. They hope to avoid last-minute connections of presenters' notebook computers, for example.

Applying these new technologies will require the digitizing of all presentations and communications, both internal and external. All presentations will support multimedia formats for large-screen display, and the use of Internet tools for organizing the meeting and for communicating and displaying presentations from Latin America, Spain, and the rest of Europe.

Fifteen-hundred radiologists are expected to attend. Eleven meeting rooms will host simultaneous presentations in areas devoted to ultrasound, neuroradiology, or thoracic imaging, for example, as well as an auditorium for general sessions. Each room will be equipped with a digital projection system, a network-linked computer, an audio system, and a large screen.

In the auditorium, the multimedia system will also feature video editing and videoconferencing capabilities. The information technology section will feature network-linked computers where attendees can monitor training sessions and electronic presentations, as well as a special area dedicated to workstation training courses.

Large monitors and a comfortable viewing environment will be available for attendees to participate in test cases, whose answers will be revealed in a later general session. Attendees will study the cases, then transmit their answers by means of touch-screen monitors.

Large plasma screens will display information such as announcements, room status, meeting schedules, and technical presentations. Every meeting room will be equipped with a webcam.

Touch-screen monitors distributed throughout the meeting will enable attendees to quickly access the meeting schedule, monitor the day's activities, and e-mail other meeting participants. They'll be able to vote for their chosen diagnosis in test cases, or consult the list of participants and their hotels. Internet kiosks throughout the building will enable participants to keep in touch with their families, hospitals, and businesses.

A central server will manage the conference intranet, videoconferencing, and Internet by means of a continuously updated network. All studies presented in the meeting rooms will be stored and distributed on the conference intranet, which has been designed with a high level of security to address threats such as hacking, viruses, and loss of data. Control systems with bar code readers will be used to authorize access to the meeting.

Microsoft PowerPoint software has been designated for use in all presentations.

Regularly updated conference information is available at the SERAM Web site (http://www.seram.es). The site can be used to register for the meeting, plan travel and reserve hotels, conduct correspondence, and send abstracts. Various sessions and courses will be webcast during the meeting.

A future article will cover the meeting's wide-ranging scientific program.

By Dr. Francisco Javier Rodríguez Recio
AuntMinnie.com contributing writer
English translation by Eric Barnes
May 7, 2001

Dr. Francisco Javier Rodríguez Recio heads the information technology section of the scientific committee of the XXVI National SERAM Congress. He also serves as administrator of the Radiología news group, a forum for discussion, debate, and education in the Spanish-speaking radiology community. Dr. Rodríguez Recio is chief of diagnostic radiology at the Soria General Hospital, and associate professor of radiology at the University of Valladolid, Spain. He can be contacted at [email protected].