Telemis completes PACS update across 10 Italian sites.

New picture archiving and communication system enhances collaborative working and interaction between specialists

Telemis, the medical imaging company specialising in PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication System) solutions, has successfully migrated 10 Italian hospitals to the latest version of its Telemis-Medical PACS technology. Specialists at these locations - which include some of northern Italy's largest public hospitals - can now take full advantage of the latest generation of the Telemis-Medical software, including built-in tools that enhance collaboration and communication.

All 10 locations, which were spread across the regions of Piedmont, Lombardy and Lazio, were migrated successfully with no service interruption whatsoever. The sites were migrated from a system provided by PACS vendor Micromedica, which was bought by Telemis in 2011.

Migration at one of the sites proved particularly challenging, as the Molinette hospital in Turin had over 10 years of archived data. In order to migrate the data to Telemis-Medical Version 4.4 PACS, a new software tool, the TM-Link PACS Migration, had to be specifically developed. Changing to the latest PACS using the tool ensures the latest technological advances are made available quickly and safely, without compromising the complete recovery of history.

First, the migration tool performed a complete analysis of the data contained in the old system, before automating the data recovery process at pre-determined times that would avoid disturbing patient service. Any part of the data that could not be recovered was then clearly flagged so that medical specialists could identify the original data from backups and load it into the new system. After the recovery was complete, a full, automated audit was performed to ensure that all tests had been successfully migrated to the new PACS.

Each hospital will run the two PACS in parallel for a few weeks, allowing users to familiarize themselves with the new tools, features and processes. During that period, Telemis will train users to take full advantage of the PACS tool, which includes collaboration functions - such as shared cursors, notes and "chat" on the image - that facilitate interaction between specialists. The company is also training clinicians to upload non-DICOM images obtained with digital cameras to enhance the value of the data store.

28/06/2013