A. Tronchi¹, C. Mariani²,  L. Oncini³, O. Pirani⁴,  R. Murri⁵

¹ASUR Marche, Zona Territoriale 10,Camerino Hospital (MC) (Italy)
²I.T.I.S. “E. Divini”- San Severino Marche (MC) (Italy)
³ASUR Marche, Zona Territoriale 9, Macerata Hospital (MC) (Italy)
⁴ASUR Marche, Zona Territoriale 5, Jesi Hospital (AN) (Italy)
⁵University of Camerino - Department of Physics (Italy)

During these last fifteen years, a fast growing process tends to substitute analogical or traditional medical imaging systems with computer assisted ones, for both image acquisition and process management. A considerable impact is found both on productivity and management of workflow process, especially in Diagnostic Imaging Departments, as result of the introduction of information technology in the hospitals. It was demonstrated that, after reengineering workflow and integrating information systems, the process steps were reduced [1, 2]. Radiology Information Systems (RIS) and Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS) allowed integration of filmless and paperless operations. A difficult point is to give a quantitative evaluation of the possible benefit. In this work, a radiological workflow is defined as the procedure of analyzing individual steps necessary to carry out the whole process in a Radiology Department. A traditional radiological workflow and process times were compared with those defined for image acquisition using a RIS/PACS system.