Assessing the Security Status of Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS) of Kerman University of Medical Sciences to Record Data of COVID-19 Patients

Today, the use of picture archiving and communication system (PACS) in health care centers is increasing. Meanwhile, the security of data of patients with COVID-19 in this system and control of access to such data is considerably significant. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the security of medical picture archiving and communication systems for recording data of COVID-19 patients in health care centers affiliated to Kerman University of Medical Sciences.

The present study was a cross-sectional one conducted in 2020. The research population included information technology staff in health care centers affiliated to Kerman University of Medical Sciences. Data were collected using IHS HIPAA Security Checklist for three types of PACS systems in 12 health care centers of Kerman University of Medical Sciences. Data were analyzed via SPSS software version 24 using descriptive statistics and linear regression to measure the relationship between administrative, physical, and technical dimensions of the system.

In this study, 50% of the participants were female and 58% of them had more than 5 years of work experience. The results of the present study showed that the most significant challenge in the security of PACS systems was in the technical dimension and the least significant was in the physical dimension. Moreover, there was a significant relationship between administrative and physical dimensions (P <0.05).

The security status of PACS has weaknesses and it seems necessary to plan so as to develop the necessary laws regarding the security of access to data of patients with COVID-19 and its observance by system support companies, user training, access control, and risk management.