The system can simplify workflows by providing intelligent automation for managing new and old examinations. When creating mappings, consider workflow issues such as the following:
How does each type of examination need to be grouped for review?
What relevant priors are required?
When and where are the relevant priors needed?
Are common actions applied to groups of examinations?
What organizational requirements exist external to the Radiology department?
Is your site cluster connected to other site clusters in a multiple IMPAX cluster configuration? If so, you need to consider data codes from all the connected sites, not just your own.
After you have resolved the workflow issues at your site, you can determine the specialty, body part, and patient location mappings that apply. These could include groupings such as Neuro, Chest, Lower Extremity, Upper Extremity, and Body.
Sorting specialties
For example, if the following exam descriptions need to be mapped to the following specialties:
| Study description | Specialty to apply |
|---|---|
| ABD, COMPLETE | GU/GI |
| CCHST+ | Chest |
| CHEST, 1VIEW | Chest |
| CHEST, 2VIEW | Chest |
| CT ABD PELV EN | Body |
| CT ANGIO | Vascular |
You must define the source patterns and rule numbers to group the studies correctly:
| Study description | Specialty to apply | Source pattern to use | Rule number to apply |
|---|---|---|---|
| ABD, COMPLETE | GU/GI | %ABD% | 110 |
| CCHST+ | Chest | %CH%ST% | 120 |
| CHEST, 1VIEW | Chest | %CH%ST% | |
| CHEST, 2VIEW | Chest | %CH%ST% | |
| CT ABD PELV EN | Body | %ABD%PELV% | 115 |
| CT ANGIO | Vascular | %ANGIO | 130 |
You can then set up routing, prefetching, and Client worklists according to these groups. For example:
Grouping for CT:
| Destination | Specialty |
|---|---|
| Gen CT | UPPER EXTREMITY |
| Gen CT | LOWER EXTREMITY |
| Gen CT | PELVIS |
| Body CT | ABDOMEN |
| Neuro CT | NEURO |
| Neuro CT | SPINE |
Grouping for CR:
| Destination | Specialty |
|---|---|
| CR WS | ALL |
Prefetching could be decided on the basis of modality, specialty, or both. For example, to review previous exams from across modalities when limited to like organ groups, the prefetch rule would be:
| Same modality? | Same specialty? |
|---|---|
| No | Yes |
 | Tip: To establish more efficient rules, you may want to edit the study descriptions on the RIS. For example, to be able to group the following studies—Upper GI with Contrast, Esophagus, Barium Swallow—you could add “-UGI” to each description, and use a source pattern of %-UGI to group them. |