PACS

Question 1

List 4 responsibilities of a Radiographer in PACS.

Answer 1

• Check images have reached PACS correctly
• Never deliberately hide, delete or manipulate errors
• Never manually enter the worklist
• Report any issues, problems or mistakes immediately to the PACS team
• Never share images from PACS to external sources

Question 2

What do the following abbreviations stand for:
PACS
DICOM

Answer 2

PACS: Picture Archiving & Communications System

DICOM: Digital Imaging & Communications in Medicine

Question 3

What are 3 advantages of PACS?

Answer 3

• User-friendly software allows easy access to clinicians
• Provides a secure & longitudinal patient imaging record in one convenient solution
• Enables integration with other hospital systems
• More than one clinician can edit the images

Question 4

Why is image sharing important?

Answer 4

• Offers the continuity of patient care
• Reduces necessity of duplicate exams
• Enables patient access
• Useful in medico-legal advice

Question 5

What does the term LOSSY mean?

Answer 5

A type of image compression where some data is lost in the compression (used in ECHO or US)

Question 6

Explain the difference between Resiliency and Redundancy.

Answer 6

Resiliency is the ability to provide and maintain an acceptable service level in the event of system faults and challenges to normal operation, (i.e. Backups & Disaster Recovery Planning).

Whereas Redundancy is the duplication of critical components or functions of a system, with the intention of increasing reliability of the system (failover to a server in another data centre).

Question 7

List 4 disadvantages of PACS.

Answer 7

• Expensive
• Needs constant updating
• Relies on computer systems that may crash
• Requires time to train users
• Needs administration staff to manage it

Question 8

Why should backup systems have 3 image copies?

Answer 8

To avoid disasters such as the NHS Wannacry Ransomware cyber attack.

Question 9

What is LOSSLESS?

Answer 9

A type of image compression where information is not lost (needed for high quality imaging data/detail).

Question 10

List 3 standards of DICOM.

Answer 10

• DICOM files can be viewed by specialist applications, such as PACS
• Patient ID, Name and MRN are included to ensure that the image and metadata never get separated
• DICOM groups data into attributes and datasets
• A DICOM Header shows all fields and relevant values including pixel data

Question 11

What will future developments enable?

Answer 11

• Automated menial tasks
• Improve productivity
• Aid in Triage imaging
• Identify pathologies
• Improve patient outcomes

Question 12

3 examples of Future developments

Answer 12

AI Machine Learning
Vendor Neutral Archives (VNA)
Collaborative PACS/VNA