Trials and tribulations in deploying digital imaging network and picture archiving and communication system - Film to filmless in 80 days

The Naval Medical Center Portsmouth (NMCP) was constructed with the intenti on of deploying a picture archiving and communications system (PACS). All n ecessary infrastructures were installed and considerable planning was done during construction with the belief that this would make the deployment of the PACS much simpler. This was true during the early deployment; however, as time passed and the system was more heavily used, significant problems a rose. User/operator-related and hardware/software-related problems were enc ountered. Although, most have been corrected, some have persisted and will require considerable manpower and/or fiscal resources to correct. The lesso n learned is that no matter how much preparation is done for deploying PACS , many significant problems will surface as the system is used that will re quire the continued attention of the deployment project officer. This is a US government work. There are no restrictions on its use.