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| Teaching how to use a DICOM and HL7 network sniffer |
Saudi Arabia is undergoing a major transformation in the way
it delivers healthcare. The intention is that by 2020, healthcare delivery in
the region will look totally different. Clinical information, including medical
images, will be accessed using a patient-centric approach, i.e. a physician won’t
need to worry about where the patient was seen and where the information might
reside. Institutions that function as the source of images and related
information will submit so-called metadata about patients’ medical information
to regional registries using XDS standards, which provide query and retrieve capabilities
to access the information in a patient-centric manner.
Implementing these systems is a huge undertaking, and training
the workforce to meet the demands of implementing and supporting these systems
is therefore critical for success. OTech has trained healthcare imaging and IT
professionals for the past six years in this region, including such places as Dubai,
Egypt, and Kuwait, but, partnering with a local PACS technology provider i.e.
PaxeraMed, this is the first time that a training class has been provided in
Riyadh.
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| Participants from public and private providers as well as vendors |
Based on feedback from the attendees, it was clear that the
problems with supporting PAC systems are universal. Issues between vendors are common
and tools that visualize communication between modalities, RIS systems, a PACS
and view stations are essential to show the DICOM and HL7 transactions.
Simulators and network sniffers are invaluable for troubleshooting connectivity,
and the attendees were very pleased to learn how to use these. These tips and
tools were especially welcomed due to less vendor support there than I have
seen and experienced in the US and Western Europe. Therefore, PACS support
staff in the hospital itself has to be much more self-supporting and less
reliant on vendor support.
I did find the students to be very eager to learn and they
took in the new information with great energy and enthusiasm. This bodes well
for the many other professionals that still have to be trained in the near
future to make the 2020 e-health vision a reality.
