In a previous post, Teleradiology: A New Frontier in Medical Imaging, we wrote about the “new” phenomenon of teleradiology and how it’s changed medical imaging for the better. In this post, we want to lay out the basics of an effective teleradiology system.

Hardware and Software

Effective teleradiology demands:

• A web-based 3D PACS (to allow medical imaging professionals to read all kinds of images)
• An RIS, preferably with speech-recognition technology
• Integration with the healthcare organization’s other software
• Secure – that is, includes strong security features – storage and transmission of images and patient information

When you think about it, the supposedly new discipline of “teleradiology” isn’t all that new. Radiologists and other medical imaging professionals have been consulting over the phone for years.

What’s new, of course, is technology that allows organizations to set up sophisticated medical imaging systems that include the ability to send and receive images and commentary over vast distances in virtually no time at all. Consider: just 20 years ago, if a medical imaging professional wanted to consult with another one 50 miles away, he or she would have to make a copy of the image, have it sent securely by mail or courier, wait for it to arrive, and then schedule a time to discuss the image – all while hoping that nothing disrupted any of these steps. If nothing did, there was still the hassle of talking about an image without having an easy common reference.