JDI: Patient verification should be part of image exchange process
When transferring images, it is important to have a process that promotes the validation of data, and includes the patient in the process, according to an article published in this month's Journal of Digital Imaging.
Bradley J. Erickson, MD, PhD, of the department of radiology at Mayo Clinic, sought to describe a system the Rochester, Minn.-based organization developed for importing images on compact discs (CDs) from external imaging departments into the clinical image viewing system, and to report on key metrics regarding veracity of information seen on the CDs.
“The transition from film imaging to digital imaging has been a great advance for most radiology departments and hospitals. One of the remaining challenges is the exchange of images between hospitals,” wrote Erickson. “We recommend careful attention to the process of CD importation because of the error rate we have seen. We developed a system and process for importing images on a CD into our EMR.” The application was implemented into the practice five years ago.
The importation system scans the CD for DICOM images, and collects all patient information seen. According to Erickson, the application also records information, including the number of patients, the number of studies, number of images and the size of the imaging studies on each CD as part of its output.
That information is presented to the patient for verification. “Once validated, the image data are copied into our clinical viewing system. The importation system includes facilities for collecting instances of incorrect data,” the author continued.
Currently, about 90 percent of images are exchanged between Mayo and other entities by CD. “Data for the wrong patient…[are] seen in about 0.1 percent of cases, and a similar number of CDs have data for more than one patient on the CD(s) the patient brings to our facility,” Erickson continued.
The image importation application collects information on data integrity, and it shows that the correct patient but with different forms of the name or identifier on the same CD is seen in 1.2 percent of cases, according to Erickson. “This includes changes due to marriage, divorce or adoption. We also note that 0.6 percent of CDs are unreadable after multiple attempts on multiple computers.
“Most data are now exchanged via DICOM files,” he wrote. “DICOM images burned onto CD media are now commonly used for image exchange.”
Erickson said that applications that import DICOM images are not enough and that this is not a perfect process. According to the article, the total significant error rate is 0.2 to 0.1 percent being the wrong patient only, and 0.1 percent having both the right patient and another patient’s data on the CD.
“One must implement a process to assure high confidence that the data imported belongs to the patient you are importing,” he concluded.
Bradley J. Erickson, MD, PhD, of the department of radiology at Mayo Clinic, sought to describe a system the Rochester, Minn.-based organization developed for importing images on compact discs (CDs) from external imaging departments into the clinical image viewing system, and to report on key metrics regarding veracity of information seen on the CDs.
“The transition from film imaging to digital imaging has been a great advance for most radiology departments and hospitals. One of the remaining challenges is the exchange of images between hospitals,” wrote Erickson. “We recommend careful attention to the process of CD importation because of the error rate we have seen. We developed a system and process for importing images on a CD into our EMR.” The application was implemented into the practice five years ago.
The importation system scans the CD for DICOM images, and collects all patient information seen. According to Erickson, the application also records information, including the number of patients, the number of studies, number of images and the size of the imaging studies on each CD as part of its output.
That information is presented to the patient for verification. “Once validated, the image data are copied into our clinical viewing system. The importation system includes facilities for collecting instances of incorrect data,” the author continued.
Currently, about 90 percent of images are exchanged between Mayo and other entities by CD. “Data for the wrong patient…[are] seen in about 0.1 percent of cases, and a similar number of CDs have data for more than one patient on the CD(s) the patient brings to our facility,” Erickson continued.
The image importation application collects information on data integrity, and it shows that the correct patient but with different forms of the name or identifier on the same CD is seen in 1.2 percent of cases, according to Erickson. “This includes changes due to marriage, divorce or adoption. We also note that 0.6 percent of CDs are unreadable after multiple attempts on multiple computers.
“Most data are now exchanged via DICOM files,” he wrote. “DICOM images burned onto CD media are now commonly used for image exchange.”
Erickson said that applications that import DICOM images are not enough and that this is not a perfect process. According to the article, the total significant error rate is 0.2 to 0.1 percent being the wrong patient only, and 0.1 percent having both the right patient and another patient’s data on the CD.
“One must implement a process to assure high confidence that the data imported belongs to the patient you are importing,” he concluded.