Unlocking efficiency in visible light imaging: It’s all about the box
When it comes to managing and storing clinical videos and images captured with visible-light scope devices, the best option is still the box. Connected, integrated, vendor-agnostic, efficient.
The box that stands apart as the top choice among imaging leaders is the PACSgear MDR Video Touch 4K capture device from Hyland Software. Here are five reasons why the MDR—which merges hardware and software—outperforms software-only options in the GI lab and others.
1. The MDR is a small, standalone ‘box’ with a singular reason for being.
The device exists solely to capture and securely transmit high-resolution video and still images from visible-light sources to the imaging archive and/or the enterprise EMR, explains Stacey Gordon, Hyland’s product manager for enterprise diagnostic medical imaging.
How is Hyland’s approach to “hardware plus software” superior to “software-only” solutions on the market? For starters, the MDR is vendor-agnostic with all scopes, Gordon replies before adding that the MDR integrates with all visible light modalities and easily fits on a scope cart, negating the need for a computer workstation in the clinical space. Additionally, it can auto-populate patient demographics from a modality worklist, a feature that, she says, is “similar to what many staff members know from other imaging modalities.”
This latter advantage enables hospital staff to easily associate patients with the correct patient record, “greatly reducing the potential for manual-entry errors,” Gordon says. Editing and image markup may also be performed directly on the device.
“Clinicians across many medical specialties need to see these images in order to offer their patients holistic care. The MDR can put the provider enterprise ahead of this curve. It brings consistency to visible-light management processes, regardless of the originating department, source or destination.”
Stacey Gordon, Product Manager for Enterprise Diagnostic Medical Imaging, Hyland Software
2. Enterprise imaging is taking hold of visible light imaging—finally.
Look around and it’s easy to see that visible light imaging is becoming a critical component of true enterprise imaging, Gordon offers.
“Clinicians across many medical specialties need to see these images in order to offer their patients holistic care,” she says. “The MDR can put the provider enterprise ahead of this curve. It brings consistency to visible-light management processes, regardless of the originating department, source or destination.”
The MDR easily integrates with industry standard formats, including XDS, DICOM, JPEG and MP4. “This makes it a snap to store everything in the PACS, VNA or EMR of your choice,” Gordon says. The MDR also integrates tightly with Epic Lumens, enabling gastroenterologists to select images from their cases and insert them directly into reports.
3. Technology vendors that specialize in support are industry partners you can count on.
“Ask around and you’ll hear that Hyland is in this category,” Gordon notes. While the MDR is a refined and reliable device requiring very little routine maintenance, she says, Hyland knows that “things do happen. So we back the MDR with a service team whose troubleshooting know-how is equaled by their dedication to our customers. One call is all you ever need to make.” Meanwhile, if a box is faulty or damaged, Hyland will replace it.
What’s more, unlike a computer workstation, the MDR is not subject to random operating system updates or hospital scheduled downtime events at clinically inconvenient times, Gordon points out. Updates to the operating systems are “fully controlled by the system administrator—and the device continues to operate even if connectivity is lost.” In the event of a power outage, she adds, the MDR automatically saves all work until the lights come back on.
4. Minimal interaction with devices means maximum attention on patients.
Gordon says this reality is important to keep in mind when selecting a visible-light product for image management. To that end, MDR lets the provider facility’s IT staff or PACS administrators set preferences or user permissions around the types of acquisitions that may be performed—still frames and video or just still frames, for example—“whenever it’s convenient for them to do so.” Technical support staff can also set limits to the length of video acquisitions.
“The MDR’s ease of use during a procedure,” she emphasizes, “enables the clinical staff to keep their focus and concentration on the patient.”
5. Visible-light imaging services are only as good as the technology you use to support these services.
Gordon makes this point, then asks with a spirited smile: “Have we got you thinking inside the box yet?”
To learn more about Hyland’s MDR VT 4K capture device, click here.
Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.