Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS): A Pre-Post Comparative Analysis

Abstract

Background: A picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) is a computerised means ofacquiring, storing, transmitting and displaying images digitally. PACS is a standard component for radiologyinformation systems.Method: A comprehensive descriptive and observational study was undertaken at two tertiary care hospitalsfrom April 2012 to December 2012, the main hospital and an associated hospital. The main hospital hadthe functional RIS and PACS while PACS was being installed in the associated hospital. So, the mainhospital represented Post-PACS scenario and the associated hospital represented Pre-PACS era. The datawas collected from the Radiology Information Systems and the PACS Servers. The historical data wasobtained from secondary sources. Simple random sampling was used to select cases for the calculation ofaverage waiting time and report TAT for examinations on different modalities.Results: The findings showed improvement in the TAT following PACS implementation at Main Hospital. Anoteworthy improvement had been in the case of X-ray unit which had declined considerably from the peakvalue of 6.8 days in the year 2006 to 2.2 days in the year 2011. In the case of USG, the TAT had reducedand the reports were available on the same day with an average TAT of 0.5 days. In the case of CT, the TATreduced by more than 50% to 1 day on an average. In the case of MRI, the TAT reduced from 3 days in theyear 2004 to 2.4 days in the year 2011. On the other hand, the TAT in case of Associated Hospital was higherin almost all the modalities.Discussion and Conclusion: It may be concluded that the introduction of PACS in Main Hospital had paidthe dividends and the decision to install and implement the PACS in Associated Hospital was pragmatic one