By: Emily Field, Communications Specialist, Chatham-Kent Health Alliance (CKHA)
The process of medical imaging plays an important role in health care; it provides crucial information that informs the care team on the best course of treatment for various ailments and diseases. As the hub of the hospital, CKHA's Diagnostic Imaging (DI) department is responsible for performing tests and procedures that reveal valuable information about the body. This team's work is significant as it informs treatment plans for many patients and families across CKHA's programs and services.
Working with an outdated system that had reached its life span, CKHA's DI department began the journey in November 2021 to launch a new Picture and Archiving Communication System (PACS). The PACS captures, stores, distributes and displays medical images for interpretation or review. Implementing an up-to-date and advanced system brings CKHA in line with its hospital peers and enhances patient care.
“We are staying up to date with technology and moving forward to enhance patient care. The new system is quicker and there are more features within it that will ultimately improve the patient experience," said Norman Kwan, Registered Technologist and PACs Administrator Project Lead.
With the new PACS, CKHA is now part of a regional system known as the Ontario Clinical Imaging Network (OCINet). Joining the regional system will improve clinical efficiency for CKHA as many patients and families receive specialized treatment at other facilities throughout the region.
“We're joining a regional system with 20-plus other hospitals, so imaging from us will load and be available to all those other hospitals and vice versa," said Norman.
With the old system, images were frequently transferred via compact discs and were manually imported into CKHA's PACS – a time consuming, inefficient and outdated method. Recent advances in software and hardware have created new solutions that are more robust and improve accessibility. The regional PACS provides enhanced accessed to a broader data set, allowing physicians to view a patient's overall diagnostic imaging journey within one system.
“A perfect example of the benefits of this new system are oncology patients. A large amount of our patients are treated at London Regional Cancer Program but they have all their imaging done at CKHA because they live in the community. With the new PACS, we're able to have a more fluid look at the patient's overall history and clinical data set – the Radiologist will be better informed when they read the exam and will be able to see all prior exams performed within the system," said Cynthia Stulp, Manager, Diagnostic Imaging.
Reducing the frequency of duplicate studies is another significant benefit. The system's comprehensive patient record is available through a single clinical user interface; this gives physicians the ability to access all available patient data and creates clinical efficiency. This feature promotes Choosing Wisely – a national voice for reducing unnecessary tests and treatments in Canada – in that repeat studies are avoided. This benefits both the patient as well as the health care system.
“We can potentially reduce repeat studies for patients. Since we'll have access to the other hospitals and the regional data base in the system, we can find out if patients may have already had a particular diagnostic test performed somewhere else," said Norman.
Preparation for the official Go-Live of the new PACS involved many stakeholders throughout CKHA from the Emergency Department (ED) to the Operating Room (OR). Comprehensive training was provided for all CKHA techs, Radiologists, ED physicians, as well as many other stakeholders who utilize the system.
“Implementing this new system impacted almost every part of the hospital because DI is a support system or service to the entire organization. The clinical adoption and willingness for change from staff and physicians was high," said Cynthia.
Norman added, “The new PAC system is also integrated within our Cerner Hospital Information System, this is a huge benefit and creates efficiency for many teams. All images can be viewed via the patient's PowerChart within Cerner. Overall, this is improving work flow across all departments."
After a successful PACS Go-Live on June 22, 2022, led in collaboration by CKHA's project team and the TransForm Shared Service Organization (TSSO) project team, the DI department looks forward to delving deeper into the new system and continuing to improve workflows and processes across CKHA.
“As we get further into the system and learn more, we will continue to improve the way we do things all with the goal to provide the best patient experience possible," said Cynthia. She continued, “Thank you to our project teams and our stakeholders who ensured a successful Go-Live and adoption of this new system."