Case study: VU University Medical Center (VUmc) & Academic Medical Center (AMC), Amsterdam, the Netherlands

1. Case study: VU University Medical Center (VUmc) & Academic Medical Center (AMC), Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Connected images - the ‘new normal’

2. 2
A Shared Image Management Strategy
Vision founded on 4 pillars
1,700 beds
13,000 staff
Alliance
Streamlined & standardized workflows for image capture and acquisition
Centralized image archiving & back-up of all images
Centralized exchange of image data
Single image viewer for all types of images, integrated in the EMR
2 hospitals

3. 3
“What is a medical image”
3 type of images:
 Radiology: 50% of all images
 Function testing: EEGs, EMGs, ECGs,
pulmonary,...
 Miscellaneous: needle insertion, wound
care, endoscopy,...

4. 4
Agfa HealthCare Solution
VNA Universal Viewer Image Exchange
Enterprise Imaging Platform
 Vendor-Neutral Archive (VNA) consolidates all
imaging data from multiple systems, departments,
facilities and vendors, into a central clinical data
foundation.
 Enterprise Imaging Exchange allows fast, secure,
reliable transfer of any and all studies, with no CDs
or DVDs.
 The web-based XERO universal image viewer
provides secure access to DICOM and non-
DICOM imaging data from different departments
and multiple sources, to anyone inside and outside
the hospital

5. 5
Implementation
Efficiency and compromise
“ENT, ophthalmology, gastro-enterology units and the vascular lab
all had paper-based workflows, which we wanted to eliminate, so
they had the highest priority. Next we connected the radiology
images to the VNA, obstetrics and gynecology, cardiology,
pulmonary diseases, emergency care, intensive care and
pediatrics.”
Migrating 20 years of images
More than 200 devices have been connected, and the number rises each
week. The previous archive, with 20 years of images, has been migrated
into the new platform: “about 4.5 million studies, representing almost half a
billion images mainly from radiology, but also from other departments, such
as obstetrics/gynecology.”
For some studies, up to 50 different names had been used over the past
decades. “We mapped all those different names to one generic study name
and procedure code, that is also used in the EMR: instead of thousands of
codes, we now have less than 1000 EMR codes. ”

6. 6
Communication & Collaboration
Intubation videos to enhance patient care
Intubating patients under narcosis can be very difficult, and placing a camera on top of the intubation
tube can be helpful. Various departments create these intubation videos. The Enterprise Imaging
platform enables the videos to be stored to review them if a patient returns for another surgery.
Sharing ECGs across departments
ECGs from the various departments were paper based (except for cardiology, which stored them on an
old IT system). This prevented them from being shared between colleagues in different specialties.
Now, all ECGs are in the process of being digitalized & connected to the centralized Enterprise
Imaging platform. Cardiologists can view ECGs from clinical departments, and vice-versa.
Collaboration reduces duplicate exams
Stroke patients in Amsterdam are cared for at AMC. When a CT shows that a patient has had a
stroke, he is transferred to AMC; timely delivery of the CT results means the care team does not
have to duplicate exams. The Enterprise Imaging platform supports this type of collaboration
between hospitals, including via the CDs. Reducing duplicate exams saves costs, saves time and
enhances the patient’s experience.

7. 7
The ‘new normal’
VARSHA BIRDJA
Application specialist
Image Management
VUmc and AMC
TOON DE CLERC
Application specialist
Image Management
VUmc and AMC
ERNEST VAN BECKHOVEN
Project leader
Image Management
VUmc and AMC
“Imagine 100s of clinicians spending ½ h, every day just looking for their images…
Now clinicians have instant access to images going back even 10 or 15 years. Think
how much time & effort that saves! Already, it has become the ‘new normal’ for
them.”

8. 8
Customer Testimonial
Read the in-depth case study!