Find career in PACS application support

As with any other software systems PACS is a healthcare application that needs support from design, implementation until upto operational support. Hospitals, healthcare clinics do employ personnel to support PACS application and are termed as PACS application support analyst. Let us look at typical role and responsibilities in the day job of a PACS application support engineer 1) They work closely with end users/clients, many different departments and divisions of management information system within the healthcare clinics. This interaction is much needed for analysis and documentation of user needs and requirements. Any system implementation starts with complete understanding of user requirements and PACS application is no different 2) Support the installation and testing of PACS application. This comes with knowledge and understanding of PACS application. PACS application support engineers must be voracious readers and should read the implementation manual, installation manual as soon as there is a decision on purchasing and implementation of a PACS product. They should keep track of periodic updates, fixes, product notification releases. They need to schedule maintenance try the application fix in test servers, make sure the fix does work fine 3) Continuously monitor applications, schedule jobs, monitor logs on an as needed basis, triage the issues in PACS software, supporting hardware, application issues by creating proper escalation requests and communicating same to appropriate team. Make sure fix is implemented and problem is resolved 4) Maintain PACS infrastructure starting with hardware, software, network, databases, OS etc 5) Create reports on PACS related metrics and communicate same to appropriate management personnel 6) Create documentation on as needed basis 7) Test the new product version as well as third party integrations onto PACS applications like speech recognition system, RIS/EHR/EMR, dictation system to name a few 8) Provide application support on 24x7 basis based on rotation within the team What is the education qualification expected out of PACS support personnel? Bachelors degree in healthcare informatics is an essential skill that many healthcare organizations demand. In case of experienced role prior experience is expected As they work closely with radiologists, understanding of radiology workflow is mandatory All the essential skills like DICOM, HL7, IHE standard to support interoperability among systems, DICOM RT is an essential requirement They should have very good collaborative skill and best communication They should have agile attitude and should be an excellent team player