Improving patient care by broadening cardiac CT scan use

Using Vital Images’ Vitrea Enterprise Suite, the Royal Bournemouth Hospital has dramatically increased CT cardiac study use, fostered collaboration among physicians, allowed them to access cardiac studies from anywhere, anytime and improve patient care.

“We are probably doing more than 1,000 CT cardiac studies a year, and so we've got to be quick and efficient. The Vitrea Enterprise Suite lets us work faster and more effectively, no matter where we are”
-Royal Bournemouth staff radiologist Dr. Russell Bull

The Royal Bournemouth Hospital in the United Kingdom is a 690 acute-bed hospital, which includes 272 medical beds, six CCU beds, seven intensive treatment unit beds, and eight beds on the high-dependency unit. The hospital has a new state-of-the-art cardiology unit.

To improve patient care, the hospital purchased a Toshiba Aquilion® ONE dynamic volume CT system, the first one in the United Kingdom. The device will scan more than 70,000 patients in the next eight years.

The Royal Bournemouth Hospital needed an imaging visualization and management solution to use in concert with the Aquilion ONE that would:

• Access cardiac studies from any location. The hospital did not want access to the studies to be limited to only certain areas of the hospital. Studies needed to be accessible in offices, meeting rooms and other locations - and even from home.
• Access cardiac studies without special workstations. Many visualization solutions require special workstations to view CT studies. Bournemouth did not want to purchase and maintain the additional workstations that would be required to work with the Aquilion ONE. Instead, it looked for a solution that would allow the studies to be accessed using PCs.
• Expand use of the new scanner. The Royal Bournemouth Hospital wanted to make the scanner's studies as widely available as possible, to benefit more patients.
• Be simple to use. Doctors wanted to gain quick access to information and studies rather than spend their time learning complex software. The visualization solution needed to be straightforward and easy to use. 
  
• Bring up studies quickly. Some systems take too much time to display cardiac studies after an initial scan is done. The hospital wanted a system that would bring up studies without delays.

"Whatever visualization solution we chose would have to maximize the impact of the Aquilion ONE," said Royal Bournemouth staff radiologist Dr. Russell Bull. "We wanted to make sure that it would improve patient care as much as possible."

 

 

The Royal Bournemouth Hospital Chooses Vital Images' Vitrea® Enterprise Suite

The Royal Bournemouth Hospital was already using workstations from Vital Images to access clinical images from its existing Toshiba Aquilion 16 CT scanner, and was extremely impressed with the solution, as well as with the quality of Vital Images' support. The hospital chose to upgrade to the Vitrea Enterprise Suite, both because it offered all the features that the hospital was looking for, and due to the hospital's previous experience with Vital Images.

The hospital also selected the Vitrea Enterprise Suite because radiologists were already familiar and comfortable with Vital Images technology, and would not have to learn a new system. Further, the Vitrea Enterprise Suite worked well with the Aquilion ONE. In addition, the ease of use of Vitrea Enterprise Suite would improve doctor productivity.

"We were very impressed with the ease of use and the simplicity of Vitrea Enterprise Suite," Dr. Bull said. "You don't have to struggle through complex menus. If I want to look at a cardiac CT study, it semi-automates the process for me, by automatically selecting the coronary arteries. The key thing is how quickly it lets you get your work done."

The Aquilion 16 continues to be critical to Bournemouth's clinical practice, and Vitrea Enterprise Suite integrates with it as well as with the Aquilion ONE scanner, giving clinicians a consistent set of advanced clinical tools accessible anywhere, with centralized data management for CT data.

"We're excited to be able to use all the advantages and clinical capabilities of Vitrea Enterprise Suite for data captured from all scanners," noted Dr. Bull.

Vitrea Enterprise Suite is Vital Images' premier package of advanced visualization tools, clinical applications, and data management systems, backed by first-rate professional services. It integrates seamlessly with PACS and is available across an enterprise via the Web, and on both thin- and thick-client technologies.

Vitrea Enterprise Suite's software utilizes an intuitive clinical workflow, fueled by intelligent automation to improve speed and simplicity. The suite can be customized for any enterprise and is backed by first-rate professional services and support.

The Bottom Line for the Royal Bournemouth Hospital

Using the Vitrea Enterprise Suite, the Royal Bournemouth Hospital has dramatically increased the use of cardiac studies, facilitated collaboration among physicians, allowed physicians to access cardiac studies from anywhere, including home, and improved patient care.

The cardiac studies are viewed on PCs and laptops throughout the hospital, rather than at only a handful of workstations. Physicians can collaborate more easily because the studies can be viewed anywhere, including in meeting rooms and offices.

"I can now easily review cases with cardiologists," Dr. Bull explained. "Previously, we would both have to go down to a workstation near the scanner, which made it much more difficult. So there has been a big improvement in our workflow and collaboration."

In addition, physicians can view advanced CT studies and perform all their necessary work from home, which also enhances productivity and efficiency. With Vitrea Enterprise Suite, doctors are able to see the full 3D studies from home, with no degradation of image quality.

Vitrea Enterprise Suite has also sped up the time it takes to display images, Dr. Bull added.

"The extra speed is a very big advantage," he continued. "In an emergency setting, when a study is ready, the radiologist wants to be able to see it right away. With Vitrea Enterprise Suite, he or she can."

Because physicians access studies from anywhere, images display more quickly than previously and can be viewed on multiple PCs simultaneously, and the scanner is used far more frequently than it otherwise would have.

"We can now scan 12 cardiac patients in a morning, and we wouldn't have dreamed of being able to do that previously," Dr. Bull said. "Because of the speed of the Aquilion ONE and Vitrea Enterprise Suite, our throughput for cardiac CT has gone up fivefold."

Vitrea Enterprise Suite also reduces costs, noted Dr. Bull.

"We pay on a per-license basis, and each license costs less than a workstation," he explained. "You can view the studies on your regular PC, so the hospital does not have to pay for extra workstations. If you want to look at the data in six different places, you don't have to install six workstations-people can just use their own computers."

But the real bottom line for the hospital goes beyond finances - it's in improved patient care.

"The scanner and Vitrea Enterprise Suite allow more patients to be diagnosed, which means cardiac interventional suites are used more effectively," Dr. Bull said.

About Royal Bournemouth Hospital

The Royal Bournemouth Hospital in Bournemouth in the United Kingdom is a 690 acute-bed site, which includes 272 medical beds, six CCU beds, seven intensive treatment unit beds, and eight beds on the high-dependency unit. There is a 24-hour accident and emergency department, which sees approximately 60,000 patients a year, and a large day theatre unit. A new purpose-built 18 bed (four pediatric) ophthalmic unit is also located at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital, as well as a £6.5 million state-of-the art cardiology unit.

About Vital Images

Vital Images, Inc., headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, is a leading provider of advanced visualization and analysis software solutions. The company's technology gives radiologists, cardiologists, oncologists and other medical specialists time-saving productivity and communications tools that can be accessed throughout the enterprise and via the Web for easy use in the day-to-day practice of medicine. For more information, visit www.vitalimages.com.

In Brief

Goal: To increase the number of cardiac scans the Royal Bournemouth Hospital can perform, provide access to cardiac scans from anywhere within the hospital and from home, and improve patient care.

Solution: Vitrea Enterprise Suite

Results: Using the Vitrea Enterprise Suite with a Toshiba Aquilion® ONE, the Royal Bournemouth Hospital has dramatically increased the use of cardiac studies, increased collaboration between physicians, allowed physicians to access cardiac studies from anywhere including home, and improved patient care.

Benefits

Objective	Benefits Achieved
Expand availability of cardiac studies	Physicians can now access cardiac studies anywhere in the hospital, including in meeting rooms and offices, as well as from home.
Increase CT throughput	With Vitrea Enterprise Suite, the Bournemouth Royal Hospital has increased cardiac CT throughput fivefold.
Display studies more quickly	Images display more quickly than previously because they are distributed from a central server.

User Profile

Royal Bournemouth Hospital

The Royal Bournemouth Hospital is a 690 acute-bed hospital in the United Kingdom.

Headquarters: Bournemouth, England

Industry: Healthcare