Wireless, Portable X-Ray System Helps Triage ER Patients

May 13, 2010 - Patients undergoing X-ray exams often suffer from painful debilitation where mobility is limited. They may be using a wheelchair, unable to stand or not able to sit up. These patients can challenge a technologist working with the rigid configuration of a typical X-ray system.

In order to better serve patients, clinicians at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC), New Hampshire’s only academic medical center, are using Philips DigitalDiagnost X-ray system with a wireless detector to break down those barriers.

Clinicians began using the wireless detector in August of 2009 in one of the 10 imaging suites in DHMC’s diagnostic department that performs 100 to 150 thousand diagnostic procedures each year. They placed the wireless detector to the emergency department, for chest, abdomen, cross table and extremity exams.

"You have a digital cassette that is completely untethered and can be placed in virtually any position. We are currently taking advantage of this capability in the emergency department where we find it provides many of the same benefits as in the typical ICU (intensive care unit) portable setting,” said Jim Roberts, administrative director of radiology at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.

For more information: www.philips.com