Radiology; Radiology information systems

Picture archiving and communication system: prospective study Objectives. To evaluate the use of a picture archiving and communication system and user satisfaction in order to further improve its quality. Design. Prospective study. Setting. Medical college hospital, Japan. Materials and methods. An automated computerised method was used to collect the data from March 1999 to February 2000. Main outcome measures. Each workstation automatically recorded data on the rank of the user, purpose of use, use of postprocessing tools, and user satisfaction. Results. The number of resident users in the radiology reading room increased and those outside the reading room decreased, but the number of staff users changed little. The purpose of use and the use of postprocessing functions in the reading room were not significantly different from those outside it (P=0.179 and P=0.269, respectively). The average numbers of images accessed per workstatio