PACS downtime drill: testing departmental workflow with an enterprise imaging viewer and archive

Abstract

In today's workflow, radiologists rely on the picture archiving and communication system (PACS) to view images. Unplanned downtime causes significant delays in patient care and lengthy downtimes can have lasting effects on patient care and end-user confidence. The purpose of this manuscript is to describe the planning and implementation of a disaster drill where the departmental PACS was taken off-line and the hospital enterprise viewer was used for departmental image interpretation.

Keywords: Disaster; Downtime; Enterprise imaging; Picture archiving and communication system; Radiology department.