Dear AuntMinnie Member,
What does it mean to be a good radiology citizen? This new idea is the subject of an article this week in our Imaging Leaders Digital Community.
Several authors are proposing the concept of radiology citizenship to address what some believe is the anemic response of radiologists to imminent threats to the specialty. For the most part, radiologists have failed to rise to imaging's defense, such as by contributing to research funds or political action committees, the argument goes.
The authors propose a definition of citizenship that goes beyond accepted values of professionalism and ethics. And they are suggesting a new system of relative citizenship units (RCUs) to measure the participation of individual radiologists and radiology groups, much as the relative value unit (RVU) system is used to measure productivity.
Is the idea of radiology citizenship a good one, or will it be just another metric to bother already harried radiologists? Check out the story by clicking here, or visit the community at leaders.auntminnie.com.
Weeds, trees, and PACS
If you work in PACS administration, chances are you're either in the weeds, up in the trees, or out in the forest, according to a new article we're featuring this week in our PACS Digital Community.
Senior editor Erik L. Ridley attended a recent regional meeting of the Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine in Philadelphia, where Sgt. 1st Class Michael Joslin, deputy project manager for image management systems of the U.S. Army, introduced his unique system for categorizing the different levels of Certified Imaging Informatics Professionals (CIIPs).
Sgt. Joslin sees lower-level administrators down in the weeds, spending 90% of their time putting out fires, while midlevel CIIPs "in the trees" have a more elevated view of how imaging affects the entire healthcare enterprise.
Finally, administrators at the highest level have a broader view of the entire healthcare "forest" that involves full program management. Find out where you are by clicking here, or visit the community at pacs.auntminnie.com.
8 RIS innovations you need now
Finally, visit our Healthcare IT Digital Community for an article on eight RIS innovations that every facility needs to stay up to date, according to imaging informatics expert Dr. Paul Nagy from Johns Hopkins University.
From digital dashboards to data mining, if you're not using these tools, you're not extracting the full value from your RIS, Dr. Nagy believes. Find out what they are by clicking here, or visit the community at healthcareit.auntminnie.com.
