<title>Multilocation teleradiology system for emergency triage consultation</title>

Abstract

A remote consultation system is available at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) which links four outlying hospitals in Western Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio. This system has the potential to improve short and long term clinical outcomes and to reduce overall medical care cost by establishing improved emergency triage capability. An EMED, Inc. teleradiology system permits rapid, high-quality transfer of digitized film and CT images from the remote sites to the tertiary care center (UPMC). The images are sent over dial-on- demand ISDN and SW56 lines from the remote hospitals to a central server where they are transmitted to a dual 2K monitor workstation in the Emergency Department, thirteen Eastman Kodak PDS workstations within UPMC, and to three physician homes. Transmission to a workstation at each of the physician homes over ISDN lines enables `after hours' consultation. The radiographic images along with voice and fax communications provide a technique where physicians in outlying hospitals will be able to consult with specialists at any time. A study is in progress to evaluate the effectiveness of this system in terms of perception of utility and its potential to improve emergency triage capability, as well as selection of the appropriate transportation mode (helicopter versus ambulance).© (1996) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.