Wednesday, November 23, 2005

ITL Arrives Warped

Image Technology Laboratories has finally got its PACS system up and running at the imaging center we cover. It is only three or four months late. This is because the management did not like the workflow of the scheduling component and made ITL rewrite the whole module. We'll see how management feels about the fact that the Radiology workflow is totally out of whack.

The key to the WarpSpeed PACS is also the reason it will not be accepted by the rads. Instead of using the mouse and cursor that we have all grown to know and love since Apple sent the cute girl through Big Brother's image in 1984, WarpSpeed uses a touchplate with smaller images to control everything. The worst part of this is that you have to take your eyes off the image and look at the darn touchplate. Every ergonomic study done since the dawn of man says that you shouldn't have to take your eyes off what you are doing! But, ITL asked their one sponsoring radiologist in New York if this was OK, and he said it was, so the rest of the world be damned. Add to this the lack of usable tools and logical controls, and you have a system the rads aren't going to use. Bargains aren't bargains if they sit in a corner unused; they are very expensive doorstops.

Sorry, guys. I tried to explain this and more well before the thing even arrived, but the price spoke louder than I could.

Sunday, November 20, 2005

Tell Doctor Dalai Where To Go....

Ah, the temptation....

I will be at RSNA this year, and I would like to visit as many PACS vendors as possible. I have Agfa, Amicas, BRIT Systems, Dynamic Imaging, GE, and a few others on my list already. What else should I see?

Saturday, November 19, 2005

5000 Visitors!




Congratulations to visitor 5000, who comes to us from Cincinnati via fuse.net. And the beat goes on!

Thursday, November 17, 2005

Dalai's Back On Aunt Minnie!


My second article was just published on AuntMinnie.com. Click the picture to get there. It is an expanded version of the "LogMeIn to Napster PACS" entry below. At least the good people at AuntMinnie like what I write!

As per the tag line at the end of the article, Mike Cannavo and I will be available in person Monday afternoon at RSNA in the Aunt Minnie booth (4901) on Monday, November 28, anytime between 1 and 3 p.m. I'll be wearing a bullet-proof vest. Come by and say hello! We thought at first AuntMinnie.com would pop for T-shirts, but I don't think that will happen after all. I did hear that Agfa and ScImage were going to team up and make one just for me...with a very large target on the back.

Friday, November 11, 2005

Mercury Computer Systems Get SoHard......




I generally don't make this stuff up, folks. It seems that Mercury Computer Systems wanted to get deeper into the medical game, so they bought a German company called SoHard that makes a web-based PACS among other things. I can't even begin to deal with the possibilities here. Use your imagination. OK, just one....will their workstation be called Viagra?

Friday, November 04, 2005

I Have Seen The Future...


I have just returned from Amicas Headquarters, which by some strange coincidence is located in the New Balance Building in Cambridge. My favorite PACS, my favorite shoes. Must be karma.

I had the chance to meet a number of the great folks at Amicas, and I certainly hope they weren't too disappointed in the "Dalai Lama".

I was privileged to glimpse the next generation of Amicas PACS. I will say only this: I have seen the future. Come RSNA 2006, everything else will be obsolete. I am dead serious.

By the way, I do NOT own any Amicas stock. Have a nice day.