Teleradiology

Table of Contents

Introduction1

Discussion1

History of Teleradiology1

Application of teleradiology in health sector2

Literature review4

Security risks in teleradiology4

Technical risks in teleradiology5

Methods to reduce risks in teleradiology6

Electronic records management6

Communication security7

PACS work list7

Security administration and management7

DBMS8

Conclusion8

References9

Teleradiology

Introduction

Teleradiology is an electronic and a systematic process of transmission of radiological images from one coast to another coast. Teleradiology allows doctors to transfer images for the purpose of interpretation and consultation. The process of teleradiology allows doctors to gain greater access to secondary consultation in order to improve education. By using teleradiology, doctors and users may view images simultaneously. The development of teleradiology can also improve doctor's radiological interpretations, thus increasing the patient care.

The process of teleradiology uses various kinds of standardized and advanced technologies such as internet, telephone lines and network and the latest high tech computer clouds. Different specialized software's are also utilized to transfer images and to assist the radiologists to effectively analyze and interpret the images for a given study. Teleradiology involves the use of advanced graphics processing, voice recognition and image compression for the implantation of its process. Therefore, with the development of teleradiology, images can be sent to hospitals and clinics throughout the world.

Discussion

History of Teleradiology

With the development and rise of internet, teleradiology came into being in 1990s.one of the most significant challenges in the development of teleradiology was the conversion of analogue images into digital images, which was necessary to transfer the images through the internet. Before the advent of digital disk, all the medical images and information was stored in an analogue format. Therefore, in order to transmit the analogue pictures through internet, it was essential to convert the images to a binary code.

The problem with the digital conversion was that it required a large amount of pixel storage and size. In order to transmit clear pictures, the images used to require large amounts of pixels, which in turn results in big files and corresponding transmission times. The large sizes of the digital images used to create difficulties in transferring files, when the standard internet connections could only upload a file at speed of less than 1 kbps. Thus would take more time in transferring files and also more time was required to download images (Fay & Susan, 2007)

This led to the development of picture archiving and communication system (PACS) and teleradiology, which enabled doctors to transmit digital images to anywhere in the world. The PACS allows the transfer of digital images to locations eliminating the need for analogue file conversion. Today, hospitals and doctors use ICT in PACS and teleradiology for the interpretation and consultation of digital images in order to give high quality health care to patients and to enhance their education. The development of teleradiology has helped doctors in providing high quality education by using the digital images and consultation from other doctors throughout the world (Weinstein, 2007)

Application of teleradiology in health sector

Initially doctors used to use the conventional radiology methods to transmit their images for consultation. This used to consume a lot of time, which affected the health care ...