The healthcare sector deals with several difficult terms which sometimes become difficult to be written in full. Writing every word in full requires more time and space, and the file sizes also get enhanced. Hence, abbreviations play a critical role in making record-keeping work precise and organized.
If the healthcare industry had to write the very term in full, the records would have been double in size. However, the abbreviations make record keeping easier for people associated with the healthcare sector. Abbreviations refer to a special variety of short form. When the first letters of every word of a term are taken to form the short form of it, it is called the abbreviation.
For example, MRI stands for magnetic resonance imaging. Hence, anyone can figure out that the term MRI consumes negligible space compared to its full form. Here are some of the benefits of using abbreviations for the widely used terms of the healthcare domain.
Jargons refer to the commonly used terms related to any specific industry. Jargons are best explained as industry-specific terminologies. The healthcare domain surely has a significant amount of jargon, which is popular and gets used frequently while preparing medical documents and communicating verbally as well. While acronyms offer ease to represent data, jargons make communications more effective.
Though the whole healthcare industry relies on the use of acronyms and jargon, radiology is one specific department of the sector that uses certain acronyms and jargon regularly and frequently for operational convenience.
PACS, RIS, DICOM are some of the commonly used acronyms as well as jargons that distinguish between a professional and a civilian during a conversation. Also, the extensive use of hardware and software configurations for health care informatics has made use of these jargons a compulsion for precision.
Let us have a brief discussion over the most popular and widely used jargon of the industry.
PACS (Picture Archive and Communication System)
PACS is a widely practiced mode of preserving the imagery files in radiology. Radiology is all about taking pictures of the internal physiology condition of a patient through X-ray, MRI, CAT scan, etc. this process also makes flawless diagnosis possible. To monitor the condition of a patient over a period, several imageries are taken and stored by using PACS. Since these files are stored through cloud computing accessing and organizing the data becomes easier than ever. Also, the files can be found out without any hassle whenever needed, unlike the hard copies which used to go missing at times.
As far as service to patients is concerned, with the help of the stored imagery, you can send the files to any doctor or patient whenever you need it without going through the hassle of combing through piles of files. Thus PACs offer a paperless way of keeping records stored, which is considered sustainable for the environment as well. If you are not following PACS, you probably are disserving your patients.
RIS (Radiology Information System)
Radiology Information System is a software solution to make the operational hazard of running a clinic or healthcare center a minimum. With RIS, you can easily keep the appointments scheduled and organized. Your employees would be in a better position to take care of the workflow assigned to them with RIS by their side. In an age when everything gets governed by technology, if you lag the incorporation of the latest technologies in your office system, you are likely to suffer in terms of productivity.
RIS also helps in maintaining and safeguarding the privacy of medical data by not allowing unauthorized viewers to take a look at the images and records. RIS also aids in integrating the different levels of treatment by combining stage one records with the final ones. All the information related to the medical history of patients can be easily passed down to the relevant authorities as and when required when RIS remains operative.
CIS (Clinical Information System)
The modern healthcare practices are aiming at replacing the traditional paper-based practices and generic HER software-based practices by the latest CIS technology. With CIS, your employees would be better off with their time management as they will not be spending the lion share of their time searching for the right file from the heap of medical files, investing more time in patient care, enhancing the overall productivity.
DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine)
The healthcare industry is using the latest software tools for the benefit of its operations. DICOM aids in the process of maintaining and comparing the digital images taken by the updated machines.
It also helps the healthcare service providers by making storage and maintenance of these imageries easier. One can easily access the file and compare two files as and when required.
For sepStream®, DICOM lays the foundation for keeping the imagery records intact. We offer an affordable solution for keeping a substantial amount of healthcare data protected ad accessible. We also deploy the necessary software to ensure optimum productivity and offer the highest attainable customer satisfaction.