School of Medicine and Health Sciences Poster Presentations

Poster Number

228

Document Type

Poster

Status

Medical Student

Abstract Category

Education/Health Services

Keywords

Radiology, PACS, Education, Training, Clerkship

Publication Date

Spring 2018

Abstract

Background

Current radiology training in medical schools is still predominantly limited to passively observing the radiologist at the workstation and through lectures, textbooks and online sources. Evaluation is also mainly limited on still image interpretation or knowledge-based multiple-choice questions. Furthermore, students may have specific interests based on their choice of residency. In order to create a tailored and active learning experience, and to evaluate students’ ability in image interpretation, we utilized an open-source web-based Picture archiving and communication system (PACS) named "Weasis" and integrated a report system.

Method

We establish a new PACS teaching system by utilizing the open-source PACS system “dcm4chee” and integrating Weasis as imaging viewing browser, MySQL as database and JBOSS as application server. The developmental environment is MyEclipse, developmental language is JAVA. We use WADO (Web Access to Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) Object) to achieve web-client DICOM images access. Java applets are used via a browser to serve as a DICOM viewer without special software required, and all functions (window width and level, zoom, measurement, etc.) are provided as controls within the server application. Thus we built a reporting system using the same method for student reporting and preceptor commenting and grading. Following the establishing and implementation of a reporting system using the same way as a plug-in, students can write up very brief reports in the form of impression points.

Result

Attending radiologists can send desired anonymized studies from hospital PACS during read-out to a shared secure server on the hospital network. Cases can then be immediately accessed by trainees on any computer in the hospital. Students, even simultaneously, can simulate being a radiologist and independently formulate an opinion and write up a brief report, without the need for occupying an expensive PACS workstation. The cases can be categorized into different subspecialties, difficulty levels, and imaging modalities. In addition, this can be also used for examination purposes, both for radiology rotation evaluation of medical students and as part of the pre-call Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) of first year residents.

Conclusion

By implementing Weasis and add-on reporting system, a real-time, easy-access, sophisticated Image Database can be established. for learning, didactic and evaluation purposes. Teaching cases can easily accumulate, thus to provide a new opportunity for both versatile training and evaluation purposes for radiology programs.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Open Access

1

Comments

Presented at GW Annual Research Days 2018.

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Enriching the Medical Student Radiology Clerkship: Simulating the Radiologist’s Experience

Background

Current radiology training in medical schools is still predominantly limited to passively observing the radiologist at the workstation and through lectures, textbooks and online sources. Evaluation is also mainly limited on still image interpretation or knowledge-based multiple-choice questions. Furthermore, students may have specific interests based on their choice of residency. In order to create a tailored and active learning experience, and to evaluate students’ ability in image interpretation, we utilized an open-source web-based Picture archiving and communication system (PACS) named "Weasis" and integrated a report system.

Method

We establish a new PACS teaching system by utilizing the open-source PACS system “dcm4chee” and integrating Weasis as imaging viewing browser, MySQL as database and JBOSS as application server. The developmental environment is MyEclipse, developmental language is JAVA. We use WADO (Web Access to Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) Object) to achieve web-client DICOM images access. Java applets are used via a browser to serve as a DICOM viewer without special software required, and all functions (window width and level, zoom, measurement, etc.) are provided as controls within the server application. Thus we built a reporting system using the same method for student reporting and preceptor commenting and grading. Following the establishing and implementation of a reporting system using the same way as a plug-in, students can write up very brief reports in the form of impression points.

Result

Attending radiologists can send desired anonymized studies from hospital PACS during read-out to a shared secure server on the hospital network. Cases can then be immediately accessed by trainees on any computer in the hospital. Students, even simultaneously, can simulate being a radiologist and independently formulate an opinion and write up a brief report, without the need for occupying an expensive PACS workstation. The cases can be categorized into different subspecialties, difficulty levels, and imaging modalities. In addition, this can be also used for examination purposes, both for radiology rotation evaluation of medical students and as part of the pre-call Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) of first year residents.

Conclusion

By implementing Weasis and add-on reporting system, a real-time, easy-access, sophisticated Image Database can be established. for learning, didactic and evaluation purposes. Teaching cases can easily accumulate, thus to provide a new opportunity for both versatile training and evaluation purposes for radiology programs.

 

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