According to Power PACS cloud, following are the most daunting PACS challenges.
1. Implementation Issues
There are many problems and challenges of PACS for the hospitals. One of the primary issues is the implementation of the system. It requires investment to buy the systems as well as infrastructure requires capital. Goals of the hospitals are not compatible with the PACS use so they find it hard to implement it.
2. Training of the Users
Here comes another serious challenge for the hospitals regarding the use of PACS. As the system is new and is not widely used, there are fewer people with good PACS skills, pointed out by cloud based PACS system. Training the hospital staff, administration and users is a challenge at the moment. Without training, PACS cannot be fully utilized in any way.
3. Maintenance Problems
It is indeed a disadvantage of PACS. In order to keep the system in working conditions, regular maintenance is required. But it cannot be done due to multiple reasons. First, the repair and maintenance is expensive and secondly, there are not enough people with good knowledge and skills to repair PACS.
4. Upgrading Vendors
Initially, hospitals use PACS at small level. As they get used to it and their demands increase, they have to upgrade the system. This requires more physical infrastructure, more space, better security as well as choosing the new vendors. But all these things are the real challenges for the hospitals.
5. Data Backup Problems
There are two types of PACS systems; cloud-based and local. In the local PACS, data backup is the biggest challenge. In this method, the data is saved in drives and can be lost or damaged due to any reasons. When they are damaged or lost, whole data is gone and you have no way to recover it, Power PACS cloud declared.
6. Integration Issues
PACS doesn’t work alone. Rather, every system in the hospital like EMR, EHR and others are connected to it. But how to do that? It is a big problem for the hospitals to integrate their systems with PACS to get the most out of it. When integration is not achieved, PACS is of no use and it is then abandoned.
7. Downtime and Cost
As you rely more on technology, you start facing challenges. PACS is no exception to it. The virtual systems or web based services have another issue which is called downtime. It is the time for which the service is not available. It can happen anytime and there are no fixed hours. Resolving these issues immediately is not possible at this time and age.
8. Disaster Recovery
Data recovery is another main challenge when the system is hit by a natural disaster. Floods, earthquakes, fire and such other problems can destroy the infrastructure along with data unless you are using cloud based services.
9. Limits of Open Source PACS
Some people have reported issues with the open source PACS. Though they claim the system is open source, it comes with serious limitations which impede users from working on them. They are unable to customize them and upgrade according to their needs.
