A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

A

Accession Number: A unique ID or job number that is generated by the hospital RIS and used for tracking each exam and its corresponding patient name, date, and exam type.

Admission, Discharge and Transfer system (ADT): records admissions to, discharges from and transfers within a hospital, and maintains the hospital census.

Ambient glare: Refers to light falling on a workstation from external sources that produces a diffuse luminance that veils the intended image. This effect is known as the ambient glare and has the effect of reducing the contrast in the displayed image.

Ambient light: Refers to light diffused in the environment surrounding a workstation. Ambient light around a PACS display device can reduce the perceived image quality.

Annotation: Text added to an image after the image has been acquired and before it has been archived.

Applet: A small software application that runs within a web browser.

Audio Video Interleave (AVI): A proprietary storage format for multimedia files that was developed by Microsoft. It is often used to store video files. This format is sometimes offered as an export option for the storing cine images.

B

C

Change Management: An organized, systemic application of the knowledge, tools and resources of change that provide organizations with a key process to achieve their business strategy. By identifying the patterns and structures of change, and predicting potential issues and problems, organizations can mitigate risks and minimize problems.

CINE loop: A continuous display of a set of images or frames that convey the effect of motion.

Client Registry (CR): A single directory or “White Pages” in each province or territory that contains current patient health identification numbers, demographic information (name, address, health insurance card number) as well as historic demographic information (maiden name, former addresses).

Cloverleaf: A graphical and data integration tool that allows information such as messages, records, or transactions to be exchanged, routed, and translated between different information systems and applications.

Compression: Reduces the file size of an image. Compression can be used when transmitting images to a station with a slow connection. Lossy compression reduces image quality slightly. For non-diagnostic purposes, the loss is minimal.

Computed Radiology (CR): Uses an imaging plate instead of film to capture an X-Ray image. The CR plate has a phosphor layer that captures and stores X-ray energy. When scanned with a laser, the plate emits light. This light is captured within the plate reader and is then used to build up an image.

Connectivity Manager: A middleware component in the integration between RIS and PACS systems. It links patient and study data with images, provides worklists to modalities, displays reports on workstations, triggers pre-fetching on a PACS, and so on.

D

DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine): A standard protocol created by the American College of Radiology and the National Electrical Manufacturers that is adopted by all manufacturers of equipment associated with medical imaging. The standard provides a method of linking a series of varied modalities, workstations and printers without the need for customized hardware to allow them to communicate and transfer images.

DICOM compliant: A device or imaging system that conforms to the DICOM standard.

DICOM gateway: An interface between a modality and PACS that enables the transfer of images or data when DICOM conflicts exist.

Digital Certificate: An electronic certificate that verifies your credentials when doing transactions on the Web.

Digitizer (film reader): A device that scans X-ray film to create a digital image.

Digital Radiography (DR): X-ray energy is converted directly into digital data without the need for an intermediate store-and-read step. The image data is sent immediately to a local computer where it is available for manipulation and transfer to a PACS.

Direct image capture: The capture of digital image data that has been acquired in a digital format by an imaging modality. The image produced from the data is identical to the original.

Domain Patient Identifier (DPI): A unique number used in RIS to identify and track a patietnt. Similar to a medical record number (MRN) or health record number (HRN). See Client Registry.

Dots per inch (DPI): While in conventional radiography resolution is expressed in line pairs per millimeter (lp/mm), film digitizer resolution is commonly expressed as dots (pixels) per inch.

E

Electronic Patient Record (EPR): A personal record of a patient’s key health care history at a one facility. An EPR contains information about a patient’s demographic information; their medical or surgical condition; their encounters at various points of contact within a facility; information about medications, treatments and procedures administered; and clinician notes and test results. See HISP.

Extension: A suffix at the end of a file name that indicates the file format. For example, .doc, .txt, or .jpg.

F

Failover: A backup operation that automatically switches to a standby system (database, server or network) if the primary system fails, or is temporarily shut down.

G

Global patient identifier (GPI): A single universal identifier that provides a patient's demographic information, such as name and date of birth, and can link with information systems related to the patient's care and treatment. See Client Registry for more information.

H

HL7 (Health Level 7): A standard communication protocol used for the transmission of medical information that does not support transmission of images. Hospital information systems often use HL7.

Horizon: Defines when scheduled studies are sent from the RIS or connectivity manager to another system, such as a modality, in the diagnostic imaging department. The horizon value is often defined as "hours before" the scheduled start time.

I

Image: A computer’s digital representation of a physical object.

Image compression: A method of reducing file size by reducing the amount of data required to represent an image. Compressed images lose resolution.

IMPAX Client: Agfa’s proprietary software program that enables users to query, view, read and distribute DI images and reports.

Interface: A method or piece of equipment for interconnecting units or systems that may not be directly compatible.

IP (Internet Protocol) address: A numeric address that identifies the station to other TCP/IP devices on the network.

J

Joint Pictures Expert Group (JPEG): Named after the committee that set standards for a file format for graphics, the JPEG file format is a compressed format that has some loss of quality during compression.

K

L

Lossless: All the data that was originally in the file remains after the file is uncompressed.

Lossy: A method of compressing images, which results in a slight reduction of image quality.

M

Modality: A diagnostic imaging device that gathers digital information, such as a CT scanner.

Modality performed procedure step (MPPS): A mechanism for modalities to report the status of a study. MPPS messages indicate whether the study is in progress, completed, or cancelled.

Modality worklist: DICOM standards allow the modality to obtain patient and procedure information from the RIS, where it is then displayed on the modality console. This is a more efficient practice then inputting the patient data into the modality console manually, which can result in errors and unverified studies.

Multiframe images: A study that contains multiple frames, such as an ultrasound study, and in some cases, MRI studies.

N

O

P

Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS): A computerized system that will store digital diagnostic images, reducing the use of film and facilitating timely province-wide access to patient images and reports.

Q

R

Radiology Information System (RIS): A computerized information system that enables electronic scheduling, storage and organization of DI patient information, as well as overall DI workflow and workload data.

Resolution: Is an imaging system’s ability to differentiate between objects.

Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks (RAID): A multi-disk system where one or more of the disks provides fault tolerance. A RAID should be able to withstand disk failure and have the ability to reconstruct data from a failed disk.

RIS/PACS integration: Enables the two systems to function as a single system. RIS/PACS integration has a number of benefits including increased productivity and improved workflow in diagnostic imaging areas. Integration also eliminates redundant data entry and the associated manual reconciliation of unverified studies. Health care providers across the enterprise benefit from integration because images are linked with the radiologist’s report.

Roam: A tool used to move an area of interest around an image on a PACS display. Roam is often used in conjunction with zoom.

S

Service level agreement (SLA): A contract that defines the level of service that a client will receive.

Service-oriented architecture (SOA): A collection of information systems that are integrated so that they can communicate with each other. SOA makes connectivity between systems less complicated by using a brokering service.

T

Tera (T): Stands for (approximately) 1 trillion. It is used to refer to archive storage capabilities. For example, 1 TB = 1 trillion bytes, 1 million MB, or 1000 GB.

Thin client: A computer in client-server architecture networks that depends primarily on the central server for processing activities. The word "thin" refers to the small boot image that such clients typically require.

Thick or fat client: A computer in client-server architecture networks that does as much processing as possible and passes only the data required for communications and archival storage to the server.

Toggle switch: A tool or button that both enables and disables a feature.

Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP): A protocol for communication between computers. It is used as a standard for transmitting data over networks and as the basis for standard Internet protocols.

Trigger Events: A real-world health care event that initiates an exchange of messages, or a workflow. An event in the real world of health care means data must flow among systems. For example, the trigger event “a patient is admitted" means data about that patient must be sent to other systems.

U

Unverified report: A clinical report that has been dictated and transcribed, but still needs to be checked by the radiologist for human error.

V

Verified report: A clinical report that has been checked and signed-off on by the radiologist. If the report is correct, it is marked as verified and it is then made available to the spoke and DI-r.

Verify: Diagnostic imaging technologists use this term when they mark an acquired image as being completed and ready for reporting; radiologists use it when an examination is reported and the transcribed report is marked as correct.

Video capture: Is the process of digitizing images directly from the video display console of a modality, such as CT, MRI, or ultrasound. The video signal is converted to a digital signal. This process produces better quality images than scanning films that are produced by the same equipment.

Virtual Private Network (VPN): Enables IP traffic to travel securely over a public network (such as the Internet). With VPN, all traffic is encrypted prior to transmission over a public network; data is then decrypted at the receiving end.

Voxel: A single element in a three dimensional image (for example, a 3D reconstruction from multi-slice CT data). It is the three dimensional equivalent of a pixel.

W

Web cache: A temporary storage area for frequently accessed or recently accessed studies. Having studies stored in the web cache speeds up the querying for studies and viewing images.

Wildcard character: A special character that represents one or more other characters. It is represented by the asterisk (*) and question mark (?) symbols. Wildcard characters can be used when conducting searches.

Workflow: The relationship between the activities and the processes arising from a patient consultation from start to finish. The movement of the patient or associated information around the health care facility is related by a series of procedures and examinations (or steps) that are controlled by different events.

X

Y

Z

Zoom: A tool for magnifying a selected portion of an image on a PACS display. Zoom is often used in conjunction with roam.

Provincial RIS/PACS home