Acceptance of PACS utilizing a PACS QI Program

This article describes the quality improvement program that Mercy Hospital (Alegent Health System) initiated after it implemented a picture archiving and communication system (PACS) in November 2003. The radiology department encountered numerous PACS-related issues that directly affected the quality and workflow of patient care. In order to get a better understanding of the situation, the department developed a quality improvement plan for its PACS program. The first step was to dedicate a resource--in this case, a radiology information technology (RIT) support specialist--who would serve as a PACS subject matter expert while dealing with day-to-day PACS-related issues--specifically, errors. The error data were collected and categorized for consistency using statistical process control (SPC) tools. The information gathered was then traced back to the team members responsible for the errors and used as a training tool to further educate them. As a result of this program, the average error rate was reduced from 12% to 4% because the radiology team developed a better understanding of the errors by identifying the root causes and being accountable for eliminating errors within their control. In addition, the radiology staff learned to accept and trust the PACS, resulting in a positive culture change that benefited teamwork and staff morale as well as improve the workflow and the quality of patient care.