Transitioning to Datamate’s PACS System substantially improved the bottom line of the radiology department of PS Mission Hospital, a 100-bedded hospital located at Maradu, Cochin.
PS Mission Hospital, located in Maradu, Cochin, Kerala, is a charitable hospital established in 1961. The establishment started as a clinic soon grown into a 100-bedded, multi-super specialty hospital serving people from all walks of life, especially the poor and needy. The hospital has more than 24 departments with 24 hours of emergency/accident unit. At PS Mission Hospital, a team of multi-disciplinary healthcare professionals work round-the-clock to deliver holistic care to people utilizing advanced treatment facilities.
Datamate is the IT partner of PS Mission Hospital since 2016. Datamate and PS Mission Hospital had a long-standing association as the hospital was using Mediware Hospital Information System, a flagship Datamate product to streamline its operations. “Datamate is a household name for us. We’re already using Datamate’s Mediware Hospital Management System and has always been happy with their products and services,” saidDr. Sr. Annie Sheela, Director, PS Mission Hospital.
Business challenges
The doctors at Orthopaedics and Casualty departments of PS Mission Hospital had to spend a good deal of their valuable treatment time waiting around to obtain the films of the radiology examination. Added to it, the physicians had a tough time tracking the previous radiology results of the patients. Several times, patients brought old films for reference to the doctors with scratches due to mishandling making the diagnosis difficult.
Moreover, the management of the hospital found that buying and printing films for examinations are adding to the cost. “We’ve had challenges in reducing the cost of film printing. We also realized that the patient waiting time at the radiology departments are enormously long as they had to wait long hours to get the results as well as the diagnosis,” said Dr. Sr. Annie Sheela, Director, PS Mission Hospital.
Goals
To solve the business challenges, PS Mission Hospital brought in its trusted IT partner Datamate to revamp the its radiology imaging system.
- Establish an image management system offering both high performance and flexibility.
- Increase the efficiency of radiology department of the hospital with greater productivity, faster results, and fewer errors.
- Collaborate with other departments enterprise-wide and provide with maximum amount of imaging information as quickly as possible
Solution: Optimization through integration of PACS System
Datamate, having studied and analysed the situation proposed to implement, its imaging product pStation PACS. pStation PACS facilitates the transition from film-based diagnostic imaging to Picture Archiving and Communications system (PACS System).
Once the decision was made to undertake an automation project, Datamate’s first step was to identify all business needs and system requirements. The environment demanded a more robust and specialized solution that does the following:
Manage Requirements Efficiently: The number of radiology examinations conducted at PS Mission Hospital was increasing at a fast pace. The volume was around 800 per month in 2017. Hence, scalability of the system to meet the increasing demand was a prime requirement.
Integration with the Hospital Management System: The hospital wanted the integration of PACS system with their Hospital Management System to be smooth and seamless. The hospital raised concerns about sharing images between specialties or loading patient information. There were also queries about the integration problems concerning hardware.
Categorization of Different Modalities: The hospital had a requirement to add more modalities such as CT, MRI, DR, etc., as and when required.
Support Services: As the hassles of downtime and failures are inevitable, the hospital wanted strong support services.
There was an extreme sense of urgency to resolve the situation. The team had to act fast without sacrificing accuracy or quality of attendance from their part. “The pStation PACS implementation was by far the smoothest technology integration we’ve experienced. The process was straightforward and they completed the work on time,” saidJerin, IT Administrator, PS Mission Hospital.
Result:
Using Datamate PACS System, PS Mission Hospital experienced several tangible benefits:
- Faster Turnaround Time: PACS facilitated quick and easy access to patient images and reports reducing the report turnaround time from 24 hours to less than 30 minutes.
- Easy Accessibility, anywhere, anytime: With PACS, tests can be performed anywhere and results can be shared electronically with other remote facilities. A PACS also allows the doctors to remotely view images, submit reports, archive images and transport them if necessary via portable media.
- Better Visualization: Radiologists were able to zoom in on images and use them for better viewing and analysis.
- Eliminate Duplication: PACS reduced the number of duplicate images since the previous results are available electronically, improving data management efficiency.
- Quick Accessibility to Historical Data: PACS allowed physicians to acquire a chronological view of patients’ radiology histories, facilitating comparison between current and previous studies.
- Accuracy: Higher quality images led to a more accurate diagnosis. It also evidently reduced the clinical errors.
- Cost – efficient: PACS proved to be more economical as it doesn’t require films to be printed.
- Increase Productivity: The physicians were able to treat a greater number of patients in lesser time.
Return on Investment:
PS Mission Hospital is using Datamate pStation PACS since November 2017. The hospital saved Rs. 50,000 per month until March 2018 by avoiding the film cost. They also received additional revenue by consulting a greater number of patients and has intangibles benefits related to patient experience.
“Datamate’s pStation PACS offers the best-advanced solution. I am impressed by the quality of the images it delivers and the kind of features it accommodates. I am now able to provide a better and more efficient service with the assistance of pStation PACS,” added Dr. Sr. Annie Sheela, Director, PS Mission Hospital.
For demonstration and sales inquiries of Datamate PACS System, write to sales@datamateindia.com. Please note that Datamate pStation PACS is owned and managed by Teciatric Informatics, a sister concern of Datamate. Hence, the product is also sold under the name Teciatric pStation PACS.
“Datamate’s pStation PACS offers the best-advanced solution. I am impressed by the quality of the images it delivers and the kind of features it accommodates.”
Dr. Sr. Annie Sheela
Director
PS Mission Hospital
“The pStation PACS implementation was by far the smoothest technology integration we’ve experienced. The process was straightforward and they completed the work on time.”
Mr. Jerin
IT Administrator
PS Mission Hospital