THE Fort Wellington Cottage Hospital, Region Five has upgraded its X-Ray Services from the conventional filmed X- Ray to a state of the art Digital X-Ray processor.

Regional Health Officer, Dr. Stephen Cheefoon said the new equipment which is the first to be put into use in a regional hospital was acquired late last year. It will be put to full use by mid-month.

Dr. Cheefoon explained that the machine with the brand name : Care Stream Processor, produces high-resolution capture of structures inside a patient’s body and uses advanced software processing tools to provide a clear and unobstructed view of these structures for quicker and more accurate diagnoses than the conventional X-Ray machine.

Whereas the conventional film takes time to be produced having to be taken to a darkroom and be washed and developed among other necessary procedures, the digital image is processed and produced instantly.

Additionally, the image produced by the Digital X-Ray machine is then sent to a computer monitor next to the bed of the patient or to even the cellphone or email address of the doctor who requested the image.

A similar system is in use at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) but is not known to be in place at any of the regional hospitals.

“So here at Fort Wellington, no more washing of films, no more darkroom, no more chemicals for X- Rays,” he said. The X-Ray Department has also been equipped with a thick lead shield to prevent the escape of X-Rays being processed by the Care Stream processor and with a dressing room for patients.
Dr Cheefoon said the acquisition of the machine is in keeping with the thrust of upgrading the health care services at the hospital using cutting edge Information and Communications Technology (ICT).

“At Fort Wellington,” Dr Cheefoon said, “Our overall thrust is to provide private hospital care in a public hospital setting. The computerisation of services at the Hospital has been ongoing since last year and makes the use of this machine now possible.”

Dr Cheefoon disclosed that departments of the hospital are connected by a network of computers. ICT in place includes a computerised stores inventory management system using a bar code scanner and Quick Book software and a bio-metric time keeping system for staff, among others.

The Digital X-Ray Machine will be connected to monitors at the bedside of each patient and will be able to immediately transmit X-Ray images of that patient to these monitors through the use of Wi Fi hubs which have been installed in the hospital.

The laboratory of the hospital is also connected to the network so that lab results are transmitted directly to the monitor alongside the bed of the patient for viewing by the doctor who made the request.

The digital X-Ray machine is also connected to a printer so that hard copies of images can be obtained if necessary and medical images can be stored digitally so they can be viewed by all members of the healthcare team within the same health system and compared later on with future imaging exams.

Dr Cheefoon also disclosed that similar upgrades to the services at the Mahaicony Cottage Hospital in Region Five, through the use of ICT, are slated for this year.