<title>Radiologists' requirements for primary diagnosis workstations: preliminary results of task-based design surveys</title>

Abstract

There has been a tremendous amount of effort put into the design of diagnostic radiology workstations; however, few workstations have been clinically accepted. Among the requirements for a clinically acceptable workstation are good image quality, a well designed user-interface, and access to all relevant diagnostic information. The user-interface design should reflect radiologist's film reading habits and encourage new reading methods that take advantage of the electronic environment. As part of our effort to improve diagnostic workstation design, we surveyed radiologists in the UCLA Department of Radiological Sciences. Sixteen radiologists from the fields of pediatric, genitourinary, thoracic, and neuroradiology participated in the initial survey. We asked their opinions regarding our PACS infrastructure performance and our existing diagnostic workstations. We also asked them to identify certain pathologies that they found to be less evident on workstations as compared to film. We are using this information to determine the current limitations of diagnostic workstations and to develop a user interface design that addresses the clinical requirements of a busy teritiary care medical center the radiologists who use it.