Co-Authors
Yoshimi Anzai, Satoshi Minoshima, Tony Jones, Prasanth Prasanna

PURPOSE:
In order to ascertain the 'perceived value' of home based PACS system we surveyed our entire faculty reagarding how and why they were using the system.

METHOD AND MATERIALS:
Faculty with installed PACS were asked to rank based on the 5 options listed the reasons for wanting a home based PACS (Covid-19 Safety, Childcare / Family care, Work-life balance, Productivity, Other). They were also queried as to how it impacted their quality of life (decreased, neutral, increased), Quality of Trainee Education (decreased, neutral, increased), Quality of Clinical Consultation (decreased, neutral, increased). Finally, if they would like to continue using their home based PACS after Covid-19 mitigation. The faculty without home PACS were asked if they would like to have one moving forward.

RESULTS:
Of the 67 faculty surveyed 54 responded. Twenty-six of the faculty respondents did not have a home PACS at the time of the survey. 90% of the group with a home based PACS responded that the access improved their quality of life, 55% responded that it improved quality of trainee education and 77% stated it increased quality of clinical consultation. 100% of the current home PACS users would like to keep their systems after Covid. When asked to rank the current or anticipated use of home PACS clinical work after hours was ranked 1st followed by education, research, administration and other (not specified). Of the respondents that currently don't have a home based PACS 54% did not want one in the future.

CONCLUSION:
There has been explosive growth in the use of home based PACS systmes in radiology. Understanding how these systems are being utilized can help departments to intelligently deploy this resource. Although the majority of users felt the systems improved their quality of life, there was a group that preferred hospital based work over remote viewing. Moving forward, understanding "best practices" on the use of home based PACS may help us to better utilize this technology to improve teaching, consultation and quality of life.

Richard Kevin J Brown MD

Appearances