Implementation and evaluation of PACS and RIS system integration

Objective This article, by analyzing the workflow and dataflow of radiology exam, discusses the relationship between PACS and RIS, and brings out the 5 means to implement the integration of PACS and RIS based on IHE (Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise) technical framework, which was sponsored by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) and the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). It also talks over the advantage and shortcomings of those methods. Methods The PACS, building in Shanghai Huadong Hospital, is conformed to DICOM (Digital Imaging Communication in Medicine). It consists of image acquisition gateway, PACS central server, image display workstation and image copy workstation. RIS, based on WEB technology, includes RIS web server, registration workstation, exam workstation and report workstation. We bring forward 5 methods to exchange the information between RIS and PACS. Results We used these 5 means in PACS image acquisition gateway, central server, RIS web server and PACS diagnosis workstation under different applying conditions, and got satisfied results. Conclusion The 5 methods we adopted in integration of RIS and PACS are flexible, speedy and easy-used. But they are not fully IHE based yet, because the dataflow interfaces of HL7 are not implemented completely.