Today, diagnostic specialists enjoy multiple benefits that modern technologies offer. Tools such as portable ultrasound machines, special-purpose software, and PACS solutions are currently gaining popularity among sonographers, who often choose to go mobile. However, successful use of these innovations depends on specific technical skills, which may lie beyond the qualifications of medical specialists, at least at the initial stage. As a result, practitioners require assistance in operation, settings, and troubleshooting. Of course, all of the leading vendors provide support for their products and their representatives are reliable, competent, and service-minded. However, there is one problem: these reps are experts in their product, but are often ignorant of particular elements in any given IT infrastructure.
It is often the case that imaging companies do not use the PACS software that is shipped with their imaging equipment. This may occur for various reasons, be it the software not meeting their needs, or the license is too expensive. This is why many businesses choose more affordable, advanced, and versatile independent applications. As for mobile diagnostic operators, they usually want to use highly-competitive cloud solutions to connect with radiologists and clinicians remotely.
The sonographers (and radiographers) usually need technical assistance when they want to connect their equipment to a third- party system for image transfer via Modality Worklist, Modality Performed procedure Step (MPPS), etc. This requires some knowledge of computer networks. However, in such cases, the vendors’ support turns out useless. They are interested in promoting their product and are unwilling to work with any independent software. Instead, they recommend purchasing their licensed programs, which the client isn’t interested in.
Unlike equipment vendors, independent software providers are much more accomodating, primarily because they are interested in ensuring their applications work on various machines. Therefore, their support teams dedicate a lot of time to studying equipment, medical standards, protocols, clinical practices, and general industry know-how in order to integrate their solutions. Medical businesses have in turn learned how to take advantage of such providers, who can usually offer more than just standard troubleshooting.
Consider a typical situation, where technologists are unable to correctly configure their machines regardless of the software they use. Sometimes their duties are reduced to simply taking images, because they don’t have a clue about what their machines can really do. A lot of powerful instruments and useful features become extraordinarily underused or not employed at all, which in turn hampers business development. In this regard, some technical assistance from qualified IT specialists could be very much to the point.
Having gained vast experience in operating various equipment, some software support specialists even prepare easy-to-use manuals for ultrasound machines which are usually much shorter than the official vendors’ documents. Many technologists find it troublesome to look through a 600-page book in search of the needed info. In such a case, the support specialists can provide them with a quick and user-friendly guide to the problem, or even a real-time telephone consultation, doing so completely free of charge. Some practitioners are quite surprised to discover the “new” features of modern diagnostic machines! Consequently, these support officers have become technical advisors for many diagnostic businesses — they provide consultations on a wide range of issues, from sending images via MWL to optimizing a whole IT infrastructure.
