Tablet technology equals mobility and speed

In the interviews published in International Hospital, we focus on a particular field of expertise to find out about current developments. We spoke to Dr Reuven Shreiber, senior neuroradiologist at the Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa, Israel. He talks about his experience of increased mobility for radiologists using tablet technology.

Q. What can you tell us about the study you conducted at Rambam Hospital?
Well, our study focused on ‘The Utility of Tablet Computer Technology for the On-Call Interpretation of Brain CT’. We wanted to evaluate an image interpretation application optimised for tablet computer technology and also determine the diagnostic accuracy of interpreting brain CT examinations using tablet technology.

Q. What kind of software did you use?
We used the Carestream Vue Motion image access system which is a web based, mobile computing application. More importantly, with this DICOM image viewer one can establish secure connectivity with any hospital PACS and it supports all imaging modalities. Moreover, this software provides certain functions such as width and length, zoom in/out, distance measurements and Cine functionality.

Q. What is the importance of this technology for radiology?
The main advantage is the mobility for the reader, but also the size and weight of the iPad. By using 3G (or 4G with the new iPad), I am free to move wherever I want to. In one case, I was with my family on the beach when my resident needed some help. I used VPN to connect to our PACS and helped the radiology resident without any delay. Even though this freedom was available with laptops, it is even better now as you don