New Parkland hospital installing state-of-the-art imaging technology
Improvements to enhance patient safety
Advanced diagnostic imaging technology valued at millions of dollars, but priceless in terms of benefits to patients, is being installed and tested in the new Parkland hospital as staff prepare for the facility’s opening in mid-2015.
Most of the new 870-bed hospital’s second floor is dedicated to Imaging Services, strategically located between the emergency and trauma departments on the first floor and surgical services and labor and delivery on the third floor. To expedite patient care, X-ray and CT equipment is also located in the emergency and trauma department; an MRI is housed in the fourth floor neonatal intensive care unit for pediatric patients; and a CT on the hospital’s 16th floor will serve neuro ICU patients. The second floor Imaging Center encompasses nearly 136,000 square feet, and more than 141,000 square feet are devoted to imaging overall in the new hospital.
Imaging is the key to diagnosis and treatment for most patients, whether they suffer from heart disease, trauma, strokes or any of hundreds of other conditions. In the medical community, radiologists are known as “the doctor’s doctor,” because they are the behind-the-scenes diagnosticians who interpret images that “see” into a patient’s body to locate the source of a health problem and recommend treatment. Radiologists also are clinicians, performing interventional procedures using guided imaging technologies that offer minimally-invasive treatments for many conditions.
“The accuracy of the diagnosis depends both on the skill of the radiologist and the quality of images they view,” said Travis Browning, MD, Director of Radiology Informatics at Parkland Health & Hospital System and Assistant Professor, Abdominal Imaging at UT Southwestern Medical Center. “That’s why access to the most advanced imaging technology is so important.”
According to Matthew C. Wied, clinical engineer at Parkland who leads the team installing and maintaining the imaging technology at the new Parkland hospital, “The tools of the radiologist’s trade are complex, powerful and expensive. They include X-ray and ultrasound, computed tomography (CT), nuclear medicine, positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).”
The new Parkland will have the most advanced imaging equipment available. State-of-the-art dual source multi-slice CT scanners, 3.0T MRIs and a new PET CT scanner, a technology that Parkland has not owned before, are among the upgrades. Digital portable X-ray and ultrasound equipment will be available throughout the facility.
Imaging modalities in the new Parkland facility will include four new Siemens Skyra MRI 3.0T machines, utilizing the most powerful magnets available. The current Parkland hospital has only one MRI with 3.0T. The new Imaging Center will also include two stress echocardiogram suites, two endoscopy suites and five nuclear medicine rooms.
In addition to equipping new Parkland hospital with state-of-the-art technology, imaging equipment will be deployed closer to the site of patient care.
“We will have X-ray modalities in the trauma bays of the emergency department, which is uncommon in most hospitals, so the patient can get X-rays performed in the same room where urgent care is being provided,” Dr. Browning said. “The CT scanner in the Neuro ICU will mean that critically ill patients will not have to travel through the hospital for imaging services.”
In the all-digital new Parkland, the Picture Archiving and Communication System known as PACS and electronic health record (EHR) are part of an integrated digital system that also will offer remote desktop shared conferences for electronic consultations between the treating physicians and radiologists.
“We’re improving not only the technology, but also the radiology workflow to assure faster, safer patient care,” Dr. Browning stated.
For more information about the new Parkland hospital, please visit www.parklandhospital.com/newparkland.
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