A Survey on the Utilization Status of Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) in Teaching Hospitals in Tehran City, Iran

Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) process, archive and transmit the medical images, so it has created a revolutionary in the field of medical images. In this study, after determining features related to the use of PACS, the status of this system in the teaching hospitals of Tehran City, Iran, was investigated.
In this descriptive study, through searching the databases, the features of a comprehensive PACS were identified and a checklist was designed. The validity of checklist was approved by 5 specialists and Kappa formula was used to examine the inter-rater reliability (0.74). The study population consisted of 27 Tehran teaching hospitals which had PACS and were evaluated through census method in 2016. PACS features in the studied hospitals then were assessed and the results were presented.
There were some similarities and differences in the following features: storing images in Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) format, using Health Level Seven International (HL7) standard, image optimization, automatic image compression, support of teleradiology, integration with radiology information system, type of relationship with other systems, network type to exchange images, and the way of sending images.
The results showed that to gain benefits from this technology, designing or choosing systems that have the highest performance appropriate to user's circumstances and needs in essential. Thus, more studies to investigate PACS features used in medical diagnostic centers can underlie the designing or selecting high-quality systems by producers and managers.