PACS – Picture Archiving & Communication System

One of the new technologies implemented at AMI in 2006 was an electronic image and report delivery system.  PACS or “picture archiving and communication system” was installed at all four AMI locations, including our medical records office.  This state-of-the-art technology allows referring offices to log on to a secure portal and view their patient’s exams and the radiologist’s reports online within hours of the patient’s appointment.  The physician will also see past films and reports as these will be scanned and digitized and included with current exams.  Images can be accessed at the physician’s medical office, home or anywhere there is internet access.  They can be stored indefinitely.  The image quality is excellent and film loss is completely eliminated. 

Our PACS system includes all types of imaging from any of our imaging locations: MRI, CT, PET, nuclear medicine, ultrasound, x-ray, fluoroscopy, DEXA scan and now mammography, as we have recently installed direct digital mammography.

Installation of the software and a demonstration of what this technology can do are easy. Contact the AMI marketing department at 360-415-6100 to set up an appointment.  Your office or physician will be given a short demonstration and a password to log on to the system.  Images and reports can be printed or pasted to your electronic patient files, as well as viewed by other physicians for review.  To satisfy HIPAA regulations, AMI keeps a log of what images are being viewed by usernames.  We have not entirely eliminated film images, as they are available per your request.  With PACS however, you will receive your reports and images much faster.

Physicians may also access AMI images and reports by logging onto the Harrison Medical Center website and clicking “AMI PACS” on the home page.

Below is the physician handout with step-by-step instructions for logging on and viewing images and reports.

"Welcome to PACS with Advanced Medical Imaging"

We are pleased to introduce PACS to your office.  We want to acquaint you with this new system and show you the many advantages.  After your initial training, if you have questions, please contact Susan Phillips in our Marketing Department at 415-6100. 

Start working in IDS5/web:

Open Internet Explorer and type in the address:

http://amiwise/ids5web/start/index.asp or you can log on to our website www.amiradiology.com and click “PACS Login” on the home page.

A web page opens up with the following icon in the middle:

Double click on ‘Start IDS5/web’.

You will be asked to enter your user name and password and then click ‘Ok’.

First time you start IDS5/web:
You need to be logged in as a System Administrator on the computer in order to have the permission to download a small viewer from Sectra. When you click on ‘Start IDS5/web’ you will be asked if you want to install a program from Sectra. Click ‘Yes’ and everything is installed automatically and you will be logged in to the system. You have to enter your user name and password. The first time you log in to IDS5/web you must change your password. Click on menu ‘File’ and ‘Change password’. Type in the old password and retype your new password two times to confirm it.

Search for a patient in IDS5/web:
Enter the search criteria in the first drop-down menu (for example Patient name) and type in the last name of the patient and click ‘Search’. If you would like to extend your search you can click ‘Add’ and add a second search criterion (for example Modality). If you use the same search criterion over and over again you can create your own user worklist by clicking on ‘Save as’ after performing a search. You have to give the worklist a name (for example ‘All Unread CR”).

Select the patient in the search result and click ‘Ok’ to view the images.

Viewing the images in IDS5/web:

Left click on the thumbnail to the left and drag and drop the images to the image window or double click on the thumbnail. You can split the screen by clicking on the icons ‘1x2’, ‘2x2’ etc.

If you have a stack in the image window you can use your scroll wheel on the mouse to scroll through all slices. By right clicking on the image you will bring up the Toolbox. The toolbox allows you to ‘zoom in and out’, ‘flip the image vertically/horizontally’ etc. If you want other commands you need to select the icon ‘Menu’.

The images are compressed when displayed in IDS5/web in order for the images to show up faster in the viewer. If you wish to refine the image you need to press ‘Ctrl’ and ‘Space’ on your keyboard. You will see the small bars in the upper right corner rise. When you reach four bars you have a full DICOM image.

If you don’t actively use the site for ten minutes, it will log off and you’ll need to re-enter your username and password to log on again.

AMI keeps a log of all entries to PACS; what physician logged on and what patient’s images were viewed for HIPAA purposes.

Further questions:

If you have any further questions you can open the ‘User’s guide’ under the menu ‘Help’. In the User’s guide you will be able to search and read about different features.

Stop working in IDS5/web:

Log off the IDS5/web by clicking on the “Exit” icon in the upper left corner.