Mayfair Diagnostics, Calgary
Interview with Dr. Christopher Chan (IT Portfolio Executive, Partner, and Neuroradiologist), Noorez Merani (IT Manager), and Linda Lou Bishara (Patient Experience Coordinator in the Images & Reports Department)
In 2020, Canadian medical imaging provider, Mayfair Diagnostics, selected Sectra to deliver an enterprise imaging solution that supports workflow optimization, heightens reading efficiency, and enables their teleradiology business through integration with other enterprise systems and also the shared region-wide image archive. In March 2021, Mayfair Diagnostics went live with Sectra One Enterprise Imaging in a successful, yet challenging, 7-month implementation. To better understand Mayfair’s transition to Sectra One and how their partnership with Sectra contributes to “enhanced workflows” and “improved patient care,” we interviewed Dr. Christopher Chan (IT Portfolio Executive, Partner, and Neuroradiologist), Noorez Merani (IT Manager), and Linda Lou Bishara (Patient Experience Coordinator in the Images & Reports Department).
Mayfair Diagnostics serves about 700,000 patients annually across 16 locations throughout Alberta and Saskatchewan. It is the largest teleradiology provider in Western Canada, performing approximately 90,000 interpretations each year.
Sectra is a global leader in the PACS space and hence why they were selected after an extensive evaluation process,” shared Noorez Merani. “They are extremely knowledgeable in the medical landscape and have many products along with a support organization that has many years of experience working in diagnostic imaging environments.”
When also asked, Dr. Christopher Chan added that the “Service reputation from colleagues and references, KLAS scores, and highest rating during our internal proof-of-concept testing,” were the reasons that the Sectra Enterprise Imaging Solution stood out to him.
Not only have we replaced our prior PACS system with a more stable, better performing and feature-rich system, but we have also enhanced workflows throughout our organization resulting in more efficient, safer, and ultimately improved patient care.
“We required better performance, stability, functionality (especially for breast imaging), and teleradiology capabilities,” Dr. Chan shared.
“Our previous program was slow, and we couldn’t burn certain images onto a CD unless we used a different program for these certain images. With Sectra, we use just one program,” Linda Lou Bishara commented.
Noorez Merani recalled that “The previous PACS environment was at its end of life and end of support. Also, the IT infrastructure that the previous environment ran on was very old and lacked scalability. For instance, we could not add more storage as the platform was at its end of life as well.”
Dr. Chan listed that some of his highlighted moments from the deployment were the:
Additionally, Noorez Merani said that his highlights were the:
He also noted that there are, “Many more that can be listed.”
Post-processing features, including tools to interpret automated breast ultrasound and multiparametric MRI, have permitted radiologists to focus on study interpretation and not have to switch between multiple applications or wait for technologists to send post-processed images.
The Sectra Diagnostic Application is far faster (loading imaging studies) and has a better ability to display studies appropriately for radiologists to interpret. This has improved radiologist productivity.
“The Sectra free fields feature has allowed several of our workflows to become paperless. For example, we used to have a pen and paper system for breast imaging recalls. With Sectra, this workflow has become digital. We no longer need to worry about losing small slips of paper. Our patient experience coordinators will receive a digital notification to schedule the patient for their follow-up imaging,” said Dr. Chan. He also shared that “Post-processing features, including tools to interpret automated breast ultrasound and multiparametric MRI, have permitted radiologists to focus on study interpretation and not have to switch between multiple applications or wait for technologists to send post-processed images.”
Additionally, Noorez Merani discovered that the “Overall system performance has improved. Some workflows have been optimized. In some areas, we need to continue to invest in improving but that was more a function of the time we executed the project than anything. They are on our list of items to work on.”
“Sectra’s solution gives Mayfair radiologists the ability to see all a patient’s relevant prior studies from various imaging archives throughout the province of Alberta and, perhaps one day, beyond,” said Dr. Christopher Chan.
Sectra’s solution enables radiologists and clinical staff to view a complete patient longitudinal record, including exams from outside organizations. Sectra automatically ingests non-local exams by connecting to regional imaging archives and intelligently retrieving images and reports for patients, providing radiologists with information and context for clinical diagnoses. Sectra clearly distinguishes between “local” and “foreign” studies and provides configurable rules to purge exams from the system at defined intervals.
“The built-in post-processing features, such as MPR, slab, 3D reconstructions, and vessel wall analysis, allow radiologists to seamlessly use these tools during study interpretation without switching applications, manually pushing studies to these other applications, or waiting for technologists to send post-processed images,” said Dr. Chan. He also expressed that the “Automated anatomical linking between studies from different modalities is not only an impressive feature but also a big time-saver during routine radiological interpretation.”
“I like that it’s an easier process for uploading outside images. Often with the old program, it could take up to 30 minutes or more. It frees up more time to do other work,” Linda Lou Bishara also commented.
“Stability, functionality, performance, and service.” Dr. Christopher Chan listed. “The Sectra Diagnostic Application is a cutting-edge, reliable, and functional PACS supported by a knowledgeable, responsive, and approachable support team.”
