The Syngo Virtual Cockpit recently introduced by Siemens Healthineers enables medical staff to connect remotely to scanner workplaces thus assisting personnel at a different location, especially where more sophisticated examinations are required. The software can be used with Siemens’ CT and PET/CT scanners as well as with MRI and MRI PET systems. With the ability to deploy experienced technologists across multiple locations healthcare providers can transform care delivery and achieve a higher level of standardization that leads to more accurate diagnoses.
Many healthcare markets suffer personnel shortages or bottlenecks for various reasons. Amongst others, not all hospital or practice locations will have the appropriate experts on hand for scanning patients with complex medical questions. Syngo Virtual Cockpit can help ease a tight HR situation and improve productivity at the facility.
For radiological examinations, experienced colleagues can “tune in” quickly and in real time via headsets, conference speakers, or chat or video functions. That means the experts can remain in their own location and provide guidance for the colleagues operating the scanner at the other locations, e.g. to adjust protocol parameters. Up to three scanners at different locations can be supported simultaneously in this way by one expert.
“We expect the use of Syngo Virtual Cockpit to have a significant impact because we will save costs by not sending dedicated experts from one site to the other. We will also be able to better utilize our scanner fleet. Our patients will also benefit, because they no longer have to go to a dedicated site in our network to get a special examination,” states Dr. Justus Roos, head of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Lucerne Cantonal Hospital (LUKS), Switzerland.
“Ensuring the best possible support from experts can help achieve a uniformly high image quality at all locations of the healthcare enterprise, which in turn enables more accurate and precise radiological diagnosis,” says Christian Zapf, head of the Syngo Business Line at Siemens Healthineers. “Syngo Virtual Cockpit can therefore help improve the productivity of medical institutions and provide access to healthcare for more patients who need complex examinations in particular.
The software solution is also suitable for training purposes, since having a trainer in the background can help operators learn how to perform complex examinations like cardiac MRIs in a practical situation. In other words, Syngo Virtual Cockpit can enable all technologists to benefit from the experience of the experts in the team”.
Siemens Healthineers
Erlangen, Germany