A new system to simplify procedures of routine patient X-ray dose measurement has been installed in Nottingham City Hospital has already proved to be cost-effective
A system designed by Southern Scientific in conjunction with Nottingham City Hospital has been installed in the hospital to reduce the resources necessary to gather data for routine patient X-ray dose measurement.
The 40-channel system installed in Nottingham and has already proved to be highly cost-effective.
It consists of dose area product (DAP) ionisation chambers networked with a Radiology Information System (RIS) that enables the routine collection of all patient doses in a radiology department.
The only input required from the radiographer is to swipe two bar codes during each examination.
These reset the system and collect the RIS patient identity.
The network is a series of nodes each representing a device and consisting of the bar code reader, DAP ionisation chambers and node box.
This network is connected to a PC and the DAP software constantly poles all devices on the network for information.
The current status of all devices is displayed together with a log of examination and accumulated doses.
The software records a file at the end of each day that can be appended to any proprietary database or spreadsheet program and the main hospital record system.
An optional local display can be provided if required. The DAP system is easily linked using RS-485 protocol and its labour saving attributes together with its low cost will prove attractive to all busy radiology departments.
