By C. Douglas Phillips, MD, FACR
Second topic. I am
going to go out on a limb here, and imagine that most of you read in a PACS
environment. You know, cold and
sterile? No, computers. Lots of bright monitors, and microphones and
telephones, and light pencils, and lasers, and dim lights, comfortable chairs,
strong support staff, and an IT department that Apple has been trying to hire
away. Right? Huh?
You don’t? Well, don’t feel
special. Neither do I. We will visit PACS a lot, I’m thinking, but
for now, I ask a simple mechanical/layout question. Do you like one monitor to read from? Two? Three? Four? Are there any people out there who have more
than four? If so, let me know. I’ve been wondering where all the money is
going.
I am pretty simple about the whole concept. I am a man of simple means, and a small
brain. I can only look at one image at a
time. I can compare it to another image,
or maybe two. I have a colleague who wants all the images
for a single study up, linked, and all dancing at the same time. It makes me sick to my stomach. I’m trying to look HERE, and everything in my
peripheral vision is moving. Too much to
deal with. So, how do you like to
read? Single monitor? More?And if you have a peripheral monitor (non-PACS), what’s on it? Cool screensavers? The latest episode of “Breaking Bad”?
Professional Biography: C. Douglas Phillips, MD,
FACR, is a Professor of Radiology, Director of Head and Neck Imaging, at
Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York–Presbyterian Hospital,
New York, NY. He is a member of the Applied Radiology Editorial
Advisory Board.