How to a become pacs administrator?

Have you ever wondered how to become a PACS administrator? Picture Archive And Communication system aka PACS system is the milestone towards digitization of medical records. Personnel who are capable of designing the radiology workflow, make changes to radiology workflow on as needed basis, communicate the same to radiologists so that they can follow the workflow are some essential job duties of PACS administrator PACS administrator job demands the personnel to be conversant and competent in following skills 1) DICOM - There is no PACS without DICOM. The Digital Imaging and Communication standard is the basics behind the digital image standard that determines the structure of digital images the get created in modality, transfer and storing of Images in storage system from which it is pulled and displayed by radiologists for diagnosis purpose. Hence, knowledge of DICOM is an essential skillset expected out of PACS admin 2) HL7 - With changing trends, healthcare systems and applications need a common language to talk to each other. HL7 the Healthcare Level 7 protocol has made this possible. HL7 interfaces is used by healthcare systems and applications created by disparate vendors, in different technologies can talk to each other with common language HL7. HL7 interfaces like mirth is gaining real great popularity. PACS administrator is expected to troubleshoot issues among HL7 interfaces 3) Database - Healthcare information is stored in database. Most commonly used databases include Oracle, SQL Server etc. Basic SQL query knowledge really comes handy for first level troubleshooting 4) Basic OS and networking knowledge - If the system becomes unavailable basic network and os commands like ping, netstat, ifconfig and such command knowledge , utilization comes handy 5) Typical PACS tasks - This includes Q/A tasks like study reallocation, study merge, patient reallocation, patient merge, image reallocation, series reallocation to name a few 6) PACS system knowledge - While handling software applications that support PACS knowledge of software applications, basic knowledge of modalities the machines that create images is essential [product id="56852 "] PACS Administrator Interview Questions 1) Can you provide details on what PACS software have you worked with? Answer : Provide details on software you have worked with with all of you past employers PACS Administrator Interview Questions discussed more details on what to expect during your upcoming PACS admin interview. We have covered questions at common level so that this will help you get clear understanding of PACS administrator job duties, perform job role properly irrespective of PACS software in-place 1) What is PACS? What does PACS stand for? Picture archiving and communication system popularly called as PACS refers to the set of software suite that performs the digitization of medical information of a patient's scan, radiology reports etc 2) What are the basic job duties of a PACS Administrator? Typical job duties of PACS administrator includes one or more of the following : 1) Design radiology workflow 2) Make changes to radiology workflow on as needed basis 3) Communicate the radiology workflow designed to the radiologists who perform the radiological procedure 3) What is DICOM? What is the importance of DICOM in PACS profession? The Digital Imaging and Communication standard is the basics behind the digital image standard that determines the structure of digital images the get created in modality, transfer and storing of Images in storage system from which it is pulled and displayed by radiologists for diagnosis purpose. Hence, knowledge of DICOM is an essential skillset expected out of PACS administrator 4) As a PACS administrator you have been tasked with operational support of your radiology application PACS. You get complaints from users that all of a sudden there is a performance slowdown. What will you do first? This question is a testing of both your interpersonal skill as a PACS administrator as well as your proactive technical acumen that comes handy. Follow these steps for quick fix : 1) If you have a support contract create a support ticket with the PCS application provider 2) Run tools like fiddler capture, wireshark and access the application to observe at what point performance issue happens. Using fiddler we can locate the web calls slowing slowness 3) If you are comfortable working with databases make sure the statistics of the supporting database is up-to-date. This can be little extensive responsibility of a PACS admin. In case of DBA availability contact them immediately 4) Make sure there are no migrations ongoing during peak hours. Migration is creation of new record or updation of an existing record causing slowness in some scenarios 5) What are some technical responsibilities expected out of a PACS administrator? The role of PACS admin has emerged over the decade. Now, in addition to handling the already implemented PACS application the PACS admin is expected to perform the following technical roles a) Build the servers and devices on an as needed basis b) Build workstation which in most cases is a thick client desktop. If the PACS software comes with thin client provision wherein the application can be accessed over the web the machine needed for access needs to meet the workstation requirements as per PACS vendor specification c) Upgrade the servers and workstaion at hardware level including hardware refresh, supply built hardware to PACS vendor based on contract and project needs d) Configure the servers and workstations e) Troubleshoot the technical issues that arise during build, operation etc 6) What are the PACS integrated components that require support from PACS admin? In addition to being a PACS administrator for efficient functioning knowledge, hands-on experience with following integrated components like HL7, RIS, DICOM, NEtwork, Server, Infrastructure, Database are some expectations that add value 7) What are the skills that a PACS administrator need to be competent with? PACS administrator job demands the personnel to be conversant and competent in following skills 1) DICOM - There is no PACS without DICOM. The Digital Imaging and Communication standard is the basics behind the digital image standard that determines the structure of digital images the get created in modality, transfer and storing of Images in storage system from which it is pulled and displayed by radiologists for diagnosis purpose. Hence, knowledge of DICOM is an essential skillset expected out of PACS admin 2) HL7 - With changing trends, healthcare systems and applications need a common language to talk to each other. HL7 the Healthcare Level 7 protocol has made this possible. HL7 interfaces is used by healthcare systems and applications created by disparate vendors, in different technologies can talk to each other with common language HL7. HL7 interfaces like mirth is gaining real great popularity. PACS administrator is expected to troubleshoot issues among HL7 interfaces 3) Database - Healthcare information is stored in database. Most commonly used databases include Oracle, SQL Server etc. Basic SQL query knowledge really comes handy for first level troubleshooting 4) Basic OS and networking knowledge - If the system becomes unavailable basic network and os commands like ping, netstat, ifconfig and such command knowledge , utilization comes handy 5) Typical PACS tasks - This includes Q/A tasks like study reallocation, study merge, patient reallocation, patient merge, image reallocation, series reallocation to name a few 6) PACS system knowledge - While handling software applications that support PACS knowledge of software applications, basic knowledge of modalities the machines that create images is essential