Biomedical subjects

D Baune

Publications and source records attributed to D Baune.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1999

The process of converting to a near filmless operation at the University of Utah, Department of Radiology.

The Department of Radiology at the University of Utah Health Sciences Center has made the transition from a traditional film-based department to a near filmless operation. The University of Utah is a large teaching hospital and the transition from film in an educational facility will be discussed. This transition has had its difficulties and its success is dependent on the support of departmental leadership and hospital administration. We have had more than 100 years of experience with film, and current procedures were efficient given the limitations of the medium. While motivated by the traditional reasons for moving to a picture archival and communications system (PACS), such as film savings, unavailable films, and faster reports, we found the intangibles to be the larger issue, as well as a source for the largest benefits. This report will discuss the implementation process and the affect it had on all areas of the hospital, including its impact on hospital physicians, radiologists, file room personnel, and technologists. Procedure changes to the flow of patients, film, and electronic images will also be described. This process cannot be viewed as a one-time change, but must be viewed as a continuous process as areas of improvement are identified and new and improved technologies are developed.

Diagnostic Imaging↗

PubMed1999

Migration from hierarchal storage management to ASM storage server: a case study.

The Department of Radiology at the University of Utah Hospitals and Clinics had to make a change from its current hierarchical storage management (HSM) system. The HSM software is the heart of any near-line data storage system and any change in this software affects all near-line and on-line data storage. In this case, over a terabyte of data had been migrated in more than 2 million files. The traditional method of reading in the old data and then writing it out to the new system was calculated to take more than 60 years. Here, we will examine the reasons for making such a radical change in the HSM used. We will also discuss why ASM (the new HSM software) was selected, and the performance improvements seen. A second, less difficult transition was made a few months later, of upgrading to a newer faster tape technology. The two types of tapes were incompatible, but the storage software and robotics used allowed for a peaceful coexistence during the transition. The transition from HSM to ASM was not a trivial task. It required a reasonable implementation/migration plan, which involved finding the correct resources and thinking outside the norm for solutions. All sites that have any amount of data stored in near-line devices will face similar conversions. This presentation should help in the event that a data conversion plan is not already in place.

Computer Systems↗

PubMed1998

A case for automated tape in clinical imaging.

Electronic archiving of radiology images over many years will require many terabytes of storage with a need for rapid retrieval of these images. As more large PACS installations are installed and implemented, a data crisis occurs. The ability to store this large amount of data using the traditional method of optical jukeboxes or online disk alone becomes an unworkable solution. The amount of floor space number of optical jukeboxes, and off-line shelf storage required to store the images becomes unmanageable. With the recent advances in tape and tape drives, the use of tape for long term storage of PACS data has become the preferred alternative. A PACS system consisting of a centrally managed system of RAID disk, software and at the heart of the system, tape, presents a solution that for the first time solves the problems of multi-modality high end PACS, non-DICOM image, electronic medical record and ADT data storage. This paper will examine the installation of the University of Utah, Department of Radiology PACS system and the integration of automated tape archive. The tape archive is also capable of storing data other than traditional PACS data. The implementation of an automated data archive to serve the many other needs of a large hospital will also be discussed. This will include the integration of a filmless cardiology department and the backup/archival needs of a traditional MIS department. The need for high bandwidth to tape with a large RAID cache will be examined and how with an interface to a RIS pre-fetch engine, tape can be a superior solution to optical platters or other archival solutions. The data management software will be discussed in detail. The performance and cost of RAID disk cache and automated tape compared to a solution that includes optical will be examined.

Costs and Cost Analysis↗

PubMed1996

Use of computer conferencing to allow view box-style teaching sessions with residents at outlying hospitals.

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: Health care reform is placing new pressures on radiology faculty members to use their time more efficiently. We implemented a computer conferencing technique that allows one faculty member to perform a simultaneous view box-style teaching session with residents at local and outlying hospitals. METHODS: The system simultaneously displays digital images on computer screens at the local and outlying hospitals; an on-screen pen allows the instructor or the participants to point to findings on the images. Audio is provided either by a telephone conference call using speakerphones or over the wide-area network using microphones and speakers built into the computers. RESULTS: The technique has been in use for 1 year. A survey of the faculty and residents indicate that computer conferencing is equivalent to traditional face-to-face teaching sessions at the view box. CONCLUSION: Computer conferencing is possible and accepted. The technique is low-cost, using generic computers that are part of the picture archiving and communication system at both hospitals, and relatively inexpensive conferencing software.

Computer Communication Networks↗