Tablet PC as a PACS workstation: Observer performance evaluation

Handheld computers offer many features that can improve workflow for health care providers. Wireless networking capabilities of current state-of-the-art handheld computers provide a platform for real-time patient management. For example, the wireless-enabled personal digital assistant (PDA) allows medical and nursing staff to access electronic patient records. The tablet PC is a newly developed handheld computer that has larger display than a PDA. This may be useful in radiological image review. A test of this concept involved the observer performance in the interpretation of the abdominal plain radiograph for patients with suspicious urolithiasis. Detection of urolithiasis on a tablet PC was compared to soft-copy reading at a PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication System) workstation. No statistically significant difference could be detected between the two observational modalities. The current small-scale study supports the use of the tablet PC in the review of high resolution computed radiographs in some clinical applications without compromise of the diagnostic accuracy.