ROCHESTER, N.Y., April 7 — Carestream Health’s imaging systems have helped Franciscan Health Crawfordsville, a 103-bed hospital in Indiana, tap the benefits of digital radiography (DR) using multiple Carestream systems from portable X-ray units to fluoroscopy.
The only hospital in a farming community, Franciscan Health Crawfordsville has a full radiology department that provides a suite of diagnostic imaging services. They recently installed a fluoroscopy room outfitted with the CARESTREAM DRX-Excel Plus System.
“Our room was reaching end of life and it was not a digital room. We wanted to move in the direction of having a totally digital radiology department,” said Nancy Sayler, Director of Imaging. “In the general radiology room, we were the first within our organization to get a Carestream product, and now the whole corporation is putting in Carestream,” Ms. Sayler said.
Optimized for hospitals like Franciscan Health, the DRX-Excel Plus (see video link) combines fluoroscopy and general radiology capabilities in one unit to enable accelerated workflow. Like other Carestream imaging systems, the DRX-Excel Plus is designed to capture a wide array of high-quality diagnostic images. The system performs contrast exams using fluoroscopy that can be associated with a radiography image, in addition to specialized contrast procedures that record both fluoroscopy and radiography sequences as well as interventional procedures, like a video fluoroscopic swallowing exam, allowing facilities to perform specialized exams as needed.
“It’s been very dependable,” Ms. Sayler said. “When we were researching other companies we did not like their detectors. Carestream systems have a battery that you pop in and out, the detector is small, it is very easy to put in a new battery and you’re back on your way, versus having to plug something in and charge the whole unit.”
The low-dose radiation capability of Carestream solutions is another of the many benefits for patients at Franciscan Health Crawfordsville, she added. Also, the ability to use Carestream imaging systems seamlessly across the hospital increases efficiency and saves time for technicians and physicians alike. At Franciscan Health, which serves patients in Indiana, Illinois and Michigan, the durability of Carestream imaging systems—combined with high-quality imaging and workflow benefits—has resulted in an organization-wide movement.
Carestream’s X-Factor platform lets facilities share the same wireless detector seamlessly across the company’s DRX products and allows technicians to move easily between different systems with minimal training time, which speeds workflow and exams.
“Our general rooms and our portables all have the same platform, so if you train in one room you can work in the other, which means we can be more efficient,” Ms. Sayler said.
Franciscan Health began its journey with Carestream by retrofitting a portable X-ray unit into a digital Carestream system. Since then, the hospital has migrated to the CARESTREAM DRX-Revolution Mobile X-ray System, which offers DR imaging for patients at their bedside.
“It’s like having an additional room to care for patients. We take the portable DRX-Revolution to ER and we can do many things over there that we couldn’t do before,” Ms. Sayler said.
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About Franciscan Health Crawfordsville
Since 1902, Franciscan Health Crawfordsville has evolved and grown to provide expert care that’s close to home in Crawfordsville, Indiana. The 103-bed hospital offers a variety of inpatient and outpatient services, 24/7 emergency care, the Marie Canine Cancer Center and partnerships with Franciscan Physician Network providers throughout Montgomery County. For more information, visit www.franciscanhealth.org.