GE’s new Centricity tools like ultra-fast image display and storage, extended 3D review possibilities for colonography or vessel analysis, the integrated speech recognition system as well as the business dashboard all help to reduce waiting times and accelerate the daily workflow. Centricity is a real hospital-wide solution for radiology, cardiology and all other image producing modalities. “The digital data and image management system by GE Healthcare not only improves our working conditions in the clinics and PHCs but also medical care for the entire region of Extremadura,” concluded the two radiologists.

Medical professionals and also patients feel the advantages of a modern radiology IT infrastructure. The digital data and image management considerably speeds up the workflow. Diagnosis is often available right after a patient has been scanned. He or she can leave the hospital with a full report in their pocket, carrying their personal medical data on a CD-ROM.

Dr. Anselmo Macayo, radiologist, Merida hospital „Only seconds after an image was taken we can review it from 120 radiology devices and 12 hospitals in the region on any workstation. Tele-radiology saves precious time and reduces costs considerably.“

Digitization tremendously improves the workflow in the radiology department. Only seconds after the treatment all data is available to clinical departments as well.

Centricity tools like ultra-fast image display and storage, extended 3D review possibilities for colonography or vessel analysis, the modern speech recognition system as well as the business dashboard - all help to reduce waiting times and accelerate the daily workflow.

In the Merida hospital, 11 radiologists handle their diagnostic reports at 7 Centricity RA 1000 diagnostic workstations, supplied by GE Healthcare. The total network includes about 85 radiologists but there is a need for more. In fact, there are several open positions in Extremadura’s hospitals but radiologists are rare in the region.

Consequently, the regional network also serves to overcome the heavy workload among the sites, resulting from colleagues being sick or on vacation. "The RIS will inform us, by means of a work list, that there is a new patient in a clinic 50 kilometers away. Even more, we have immediate access to the patient‘s information and images," explains MD Anselmo Macayo, commenting on the way radiologists work in a modern and connected IT environment.

For example, a neurologist in Badajoz can see the results from a patient treated in Llerena within seconds after a CT scan is performed. The neurologist can immediately decide whether the suffering person needs to be transferred by helicopter to the neurology department in Badajoz. This saves precious seconds in terms of the patient’s health, as well as financial and hospital resources that could be allocated elsewhere. Both scenarios support effective cost management.