Taking the heat off - Radiology peaks in emergency care

When the summer heat is over, at the emergency department of the highly reputed Clínica Sagrado Corazón, Seville, the staff is ready to take the healthcare heat: Agfa HealthCare’s DX-D 300 Direct Radiography (DR) system can handle the workload peaks flawlessly, offering both staff and patients unprecedented comfort and diagnostic quality.

University status for radiology department

“Our ambition is to have our doctors and staff recognised by achieving legal university hospital status. The first department to achieve this stature will be radiology in 2011. We have been investing heavily in digitisation with the installation of the DX-D 300 Direct Radiography system as the catalyst of our ambition to make the department fully digital,” explains Dr. Ignacio Galàn, Head of Radiology Department at Clínica Sagrado Corazón.

“The availability of the DX-D 300 DR system will double our examination capacity in the emergency department”. “We have considerably increased our peak capacity because the patient flow is extremely fast with Agfa HealthCare’s DR solution. Patients appreciate the short waiting times and the technologists like the extreme flexibility of the DR workflow.”

CR and DR solutions support green agenda

Dr. Ignacio Galàn appreciates the state-of-the-art technology associated with the DX-D 300 solution. Next to the classic benefits of CR and DR, he strongly embraces the positive ecological advantages of the solution: no chemical waste and patients receive the minimal dose of radiation. “We are big on the green agenda, and clean technology is appreciated by both our staff and the patients. We ultimately aim at achieving a digital radiology environment, and the Agfa HealthCare CR and DR solutions are instrumental to this ambition.”

Emergency department is front-line test for productivity

Installing the first DX-D 300 DR system in Spain’s largest private hospital group is far from a hap-hazard decision. Inspired by the fact that about 60% of all patients enter the hospital through the Emergency Department, it is also where waiting times often need to be significantly reduced. Typically, in southern countries with extreme day temperatures, hospital visits for examinations will peak in late afternoon. And during summer, when the outside temperature is mercilessly high, patients even tend to avoid going to the hospital at all. Consequently, in fall, emergency department visits double.

“The main reason to have the solution is its incredible speed: patients need only stay for a short while in the examination room because the system quickly adapts to the study type. We can easily maneuver the bucky as well as the tube, which we can turn around the patient. We can also move the table the patient is lying on. This is convenient for many dif ferent patients: small children, immobile adults, obese or the very weak. And it gets better: The DX-D 300 software immediately sets the right examination parameters once we enter the patient’s data. It also instructs the system to properly position the bucky and the tube. It makes my life so much easier.”

Musica2 image quality at the core of impeccable exam results

Dr. Romero Gomez is confident that the improved and consistent image quality provided by Agfa HealthCare’s MUSICA2 image enhancement software will guarantee the best examination quality, notwithstanding the higher productivity.

To Technologist Guadaloupe Godoy Chaves, the contribution of MUSICA2 software greatly enhances the impeccable results of the examinations: “In the time I have used the DX-D 300 solution, I have never needed to retake a patient. The image quality remains consistent from the day’s first take to the very last. And the patient receives less radiation dose.”

Concludes Radiologist Romero Gomez: “I am thrilled with the new digital imaging technologies. We have invested in many new systems including a CT scanner and this DR solution. In particular, the DX-D 300 will allow radiologists to confer with referring clinicians using the MUSICA2 images even before we actually write the formal report. It’s going to expedite team work considerably, for the ultimate benefit to the patient.”

Clínica Sagrado Corazón, Seville, Spain

INTERVIEWEES Dr. Alfonso Haya, Medical Director

• Dr. Ignacio Galàn, Head of the Radiology Department


• Dr. Monica Romero Gomez, Radiologist


• Guadaloupe Godoy Chaves, Technologist, Emergency Department.