David S. Hirschorn MD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Anusuya Anant Mokashi MD, Presenter: Nothing to Disclose

The technologists and radiologists have both applauded this effort to eliminate paper and give them enough room to communicate all of the measurements and descriptive information that they need. Paper measurement forms in ultrasound are now a thing of the past, and the database of measurements is now yet another source of valuable data available for research.

During the performance of an ultrasound exam, measurements are recorded by technicians which need to be communicated to the radiologist along with the images for interpretation. These measurements have traditionally been handwritten on paper forms because there is no established place to enter such data in RIS or PACS. Some measurements are embedded in the pixels but some are not. In addition, some of the information are descriptive terms such as the echo texture of a lesion for which there isn’t enough room on the images themselves. In a department that is otherwise filmless and paperless, handwritten technician forms hinder interpretation because of the inefficiency of transporting papers from the technician to the radiologist, the chance of losing the paper, and misinterpretation of messy handwriting. Our goal was to eliminate this last bit of paper. Ideally the data should be input by the technician into the ultrasound machine and then transmitted to RIS and/or PACS, but no such mechanism exists today.  

We have created a web page data entry form that is integrated seamlessly via desktop macro software into the workflow for both the technologist and the radiologist. The technologist accesses the form from one click from the RIS web page that he/she is already using to track the case. The interpreting radiologist then calls up the same form from a similar button on the radiologist worklist. See figure.

The forms give the technologists ample room to write as much information as they want about a case, and even computes some simple values automatically such as the Renal Arterial Ratio. Written in PHP, the system maps ultrasound procedures to a set of forms designed around the types of measurements typically given for that procedure.

Hirschorn, D, Mokashi, A, Goodbye to Paper Ultrasound Forms: A Web-based RIS-integrated Ultrasound Measurement Recording System.  Radiological Society of North America 2011 Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting, November 26 - December 2, 2011 ,Chicago IL. http://archive.rsna.org/2011/11002639.html