Image Transfers to PACS Reduces Repetitive Testing to ED Patients

Researchers at Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston showed that when CDs of radiology images were imported from outside emergency departments into the hospital's picture archiving and communications system (PACS), fewer repetitive studies were performed on patients transferred into the hospital.

The study involved 1,487 patients transferred to Brigham & Women's from Feb. 1, 2009 through Aug. 31, 2009. The radiological images of those patients were stored on CDs and imported to the hospital's PACS. The control group consisted of 254 patients who were transferred to Brigham & Women's between August 2007 and January 2008, before the CD import system was adopted...