Kodak Debuts New CARESTREAM Digital Dashboard Software for PACS Administrators

Platform Provides Tools to Monitor Equipment Performance, Storage Utilization

Rochester, N. Y.,- Eastman Kodak Company today announced worldwide availability for its new digital dashboard feature that provides system administrators with a convenient way to monitor equipment performance, storage utilization and user volumes for picture archiving and communications systems (PACS).

The KODAK CARESTREAM Digital Dashboard software supports users of KODAK CARESTREAM PACS and KODAK CARESTREAM Information Management Solutions. The next version of the Digital Dashboard software is scheduled to support monitoring of the KODAK CARESTREAM Radiology Information System (RIS) as well.

PACS administrators can use the digital dashboard to verify that devices are operating and communicating on the network-without leaving their desks. A simple red/yellow/green display gives immediate feedback regarding the status of any monitored device. An integrated, product-specific menu enables the launching of frequently used tools with a single mouse click. The dashboard also makes it easy to track the number of concurrent users for a device, the number of read and unread imaging studies, as well as the status of other tasks.

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (Los Angeles, Calif.) was one of the sites that evaluated the digital dashboard software during its development. Imaging Informatics Manager David Brown uses the dashboard to monitor five PACS and storage archive servers.

“The dashboard presents a very quick and visual method of checking the status of all monitored systems. If I see that a process is in trouble or a directory is almost full, I can take action before any of our users are impacted,” Brown said. “I don’t know many PACS administrators who have time to go into UNIX and conduct the individual checks that the dashboard does automatically. In addition, it provides access to database information, including database table space that is not available anywhere else.”

At St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center (Toledo, Ohio), PACS Administrator Leslie Beidleman reports the digital dashboard software identified a glitch that was causing some imaging studies to be missed during the backup process. “One of the dashboard indicators identified that some of our studies were not being backed up. It did exactly what it is designed to do, which is to highlight areas of malfunction so that they can be corrected,” she explained. This facility also was also a test site for the new software.

The dashboard also provides vital statistics such as patient name and ID conflicts and missing accession numbers that are crucial to maintaining the integrity of PACS data. It also enables administrators to use product maintenance checklists for daily, weekly and monthly tasks that help ensure optimal system performance.

"In Japan, most small and mid-sized hospitals don’t have a dedicated PACS administrator, so a radiologist or referencing physician is usually charged with managing the PACS. The digital dashboard is very helpful because it minimizes the time required for daily system checks and makes it easier to perform PACS administrator functions,” said Satoshi Yanagita, radiological technologist and healthcare information technologist, Kitasato Institute Medical Center.

KODAK CARESTREAM PACS provides viewing, storage, access and distribution of radiology imaging studies to authorized users. CARESTREAM Information Management Solutions include enterprise-wide information management, hosted information management and regional information management solutions that deliver large-scale management of images and information.