part 2 informatics

Patient Referral

Patient Referral

it is a primary care doctor or other healthcare professional will often refer a patient to start the procedure.

Scheduling

The Radiology Division schedules the patient for the relevant imaging procedure as soon as it receives the referral.

Patient Check-In

The patient must go through the check-in process when they arrive at the radiology department.

Preparation

A patient may need to fast or take a contrast medication before undergoing certain imaging procedures.

Imaging Procedure

Technologists or radiologists carry out the imaging while assuring the patient's safety and comfort.

Image Acquisition

Using the necessary tools, the technologist acquires the images during the imaging procedure.

Image Interpretation

Radiologists, who are specialized physicians trained in medical imaging, analyze and interpret the acquired images.

Report Generation

Radiologists generate detailed reports summarizing their findings, diagnoses, and recommendations.

Communication and Consultation

The referring doctor or specialist may occasionally ask to speak with the radiologist to go through complicated cases or get more advice.

Follow-up and Documentation

The Radiology Division makes sure that the patient's medical record is properly updated with the imaging results and related reports.

it is a technology for medical imaging that stores and digitally transfer electronic images and reports that are pertinent to clinical care.

And it offers affordable storage, quick picture retrieval, access to images taken with various practices, and simultaneous utilization at various places.

Gateway Computer

it is where the imaging modalities connects, and obtains relevant medical images from the modality and converts them into the standard PACS format.

LAN networks within a department

This type of network links to specific department’s imaging modalities, display workstations and archive.

LAN networks that connect to various departments

This type of network  covers Intrahospital transmission of data.

Teleradiology networks

This type of network repositions medical information between hospitals.

• network topology

• workflow assignments

• line capacity

PACS networks must consider three main factors what are those?

Workstations or Viewing Stations

• this component of PAQS allows radiologists and clinicians to review images and patient information.

• provide the detailed view of medical data specialists need to create a primary diagnosis.

• A modern display workstation has communication hardware, processing software, a display monitor system

• Access

• Processing

• Manipulation

• Interpretation

• Evaluation

• Documentation

Workstations of er a range of image-processing capabilities, includes.

• Storage area network (SAN)

• Network-attached storage (NAS)

• Direct-attached storage (DAS)

Some of the most common imaging acquisition modalities include:

Storage area network (SAN)

Corporate data centers widely capitalize on this type of network because of its dedicated server storage. It's an independent network that connects storage devices to computers.

Network-attached storage (NAS)

This type of network also of ers independent server storage, though it differs from SAN in attachment. NAS sits on the network, so network standard protocols are necessary to access the storage.

Direct-attached storage (DAS)

Hard drives on the server that runs the PACS can also store records. While this is a simple and direct approach to storage, scalability is limited.

Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM)

• it is a standard protocol for the management and transmission of medical images and related data and is used in many healthcare facilities.

• Its mission is to ensure the interoperability of systems used to produce, store, share, display, send, query, process, retrieve and print medical images, as well as to manage related workflows.

Interoperability

it refers to the ability of different systems to communicate and exchange data with each other.

Interoperability

without this characteristic of a system, systems would be unable to share information and work together, which would lead to inefficiencies, errors, and missed opportunities.

IT integration standards

• it is a set of guidelines or rules that govern the way different systems and technologies should be integrated.

• these standards ensure that systems are integrated in a consistent and reliable way, which reduces the risk of errors and inconsistencies.

HL7 Standards

• it is a Standards Developing Organization accredited by the American National Standards Institute. It formulates consensus-based standards, reflecting diverse perspectives from healthcare system participants.

• it is a as a series of message formats and associated clinical standards that define the best way to present clinical data.

Primary Standards

At its core, these standards set the key benchmarks, playing a vital role in guiding system interactions while emphasizing compliance.

Foundational Standards

These standards act as the groundwork, spelling out the critical protocols and tech underpinnings that every organization should adopt.

Clinical & Administrative Domains

Specifically crafted for the healthcare community, these shed light on documentation norms and simplify the merger of structured documents with routine messaging tools.

Medical Systems Profiles

Delving into the specifics, this segment breaks down how Electronic Health Records (EHR) are managed and profiled.

Implementation Guides

These are packed with instructions on best practices to ensure smooth and effective solution rollouts.

References

They clarify the regulations and tech essentials crucial for anyone diving into health software creation.

Education and Awareness

This set keeps users informed about the latest in HL7 and arms them with what they need for a seamless transition.

Quality Evaluation

•  It is a method for evaluating an initiative, scheme, or activity's success and provides a chance to pinpoint areas that could want development.

• It examines the advantages and disadvantages of different teams, systems, and procedures. It also helps to identify any potential barriers or challenges that might be hurting performance.

Quality Assurance Program

• this program ensures that administrators of laboratories and project investigators are meeting defined criteria for the quality of facilities, equipment, employee training, and work performance.

• This system's main goal is to give clients trust that quality standards will be encountered.

• QA is a technique for preventing errors or averting difficulties that could arise during service delivery

• Standards and Specifications

• Process Documentation

• Quality Planning

what are the components of quality assurance program?

Standards and Specifications

this Components of a Quality Assurance Program Establishes clear and measurable criteria for products or services, outlining the desired quality level.

Process Documentation

this Components of a Quality Assurance Program Documents procedures, work instructions, and guidelines to ensure consistency and repeatability in production or service delivery.

Quality Planning

this Components of a Quality Assurance Program Develops strategies and action plans to achieve and maintain the desired level of quality.

Quality Control

this Components of a Quality Assurance Program Conducts inspections, tests, and measurements to identify deviations from established standards and take corrective actions.

Training and Education

this Components of a Quality Assurance Program Provides employees with the necessary skills and knowledge to perform their tasks effectively and adhere to quality standards.

Continuous Improvement

this Components of a Quality Assurance Program Implements feedback loops, analyze performance data, and making adjustments to improve processes and products over time.

Customer Feedback and Satisfaction

this Components of a Quality Assurance Program Collects and analyze customer feedback to identify areas for improvement and address customer concerns.

Audits and Reviews

this Components of a Quality Assurance Program Conducts regular assessments and evaluations of processes, procedures, and products to ensure compliance with standards and identify opportunities for improvement.

Performance Improvement Initiatives

These initiatives are aimed at improving overall healthcare delivery and results. Such initiatives are Process mapping and redesign, Mortality and morbidity reviews, and Patient satisfaction surveys.

Credentialing and Privileging

These programs ensure that healthcare providers have the qualifications and standards necessary to provide safe and effective care.

Compliance Monitoring

These programs ensure that legal, regulatory, and accreditation requirements are fulfilled. Accreditation surveys and HIPAA compliance audits are conducted.

Patient Safety Programs

These programs focus on preventing and reducing adverse events and medical errors.

Quality Assurance

it means the planned and systematic actions that will produce consistently high quality images with minimum exposure of the patients and workers.

Radiologic Technologists

this member of Quality Assurance documents and maintains records for the quality control program in accordance with applicable regulations, legal requirements, accrediting agencies and recommendations from equipment manufacturers using an integrated team approach.

Senior and Competent Radiographers

they are responsible for overseeing the equipment quality control testing programs as well as other responsible roles in the quality assurance framework in the radiology department.

Radiologists

this kind of QA member is a Board-certified physicians specialized in radiology who participate in the QA committee.

Medical Physicists

they are Experts in the field of medical physics who ensure the safe and accurate use of radiation in diagnostic imaging.

Radiology Nurses

Nurses who work in the radiology department and provide patient care during imaging procedures.

Clinical Audits

entails assessing medical records, treatment plans, and clinical practices to ensure that specified rules and regulations are followed. Such examples are medication audits, surgical audits and infection control audits.

Quality Improvement Specialists

Individuals with expertise in quality improvement methodologies and data analysis.

IT/Informatics Specialists

they are responsible for managing the radiology department's information systems and data analysis tools.

Statistical Analysis and Information Entropy

• this are important concepts in the field of medical image processing.

• involves the application of statistical methods to analyze and interpret data. In medical image processing.

• And this techniques are used to extract meaningful information from medical images and make quantitative assessments.

• often used as a quantitative measure of image complexity or texture.

Transformation

A thorough or dramatic change in form of appearance.

Medical Image Processing

Encompasses the use and exploration of 3D image datasets of the human body.

Contrast Enhancement

This transformation improves the visibility of structures by adjusting the image contrast. Includes histogram equalization, contrast stretching, and adaptive histogram equalization.

Filtering

It is used to reduce noise and improve image details. Filters that are popular include median filters, Gaussian filters, and Wiener filters.

Edge detection

Determine the boundaries between distinct structures in a picture. it is an identification in radiography pictures usually performed using Canny edge detection, the Sobel operator, and the Laplacian of Gaussian (LoG).

Segmentation

this techniques is for dividing a picture into discrete regions or objects of interest. This aids in the isolation and analysis of certain anatomical structures. Thresholding, region growth, and active contour models (e.g., level sets) are commonly employed in radiography for picture segmentation.

Morphological operations

Used to extract certain features or change the geometry of structures in a picture. These processes include dilatation (regional expansion), erosion (regional shrinkage), opening (erosion followed by dilation), and closing (erosion followed by dilation).

 Image registration

Process of aligning several images of the same patient or distinct imaging modalities in order to simplify comparison and interpretation. It aids in illness progression tracking, therapy planning, and monitoring. Image registration techniques such as affine transformations, elastic registration, and non-rigid registration are extensively utilized.