Redesigning the nuclear medicine reading room

Abstract

The process of image review and interpretation has become increasingly complex and challenging for today's nuclear medicine physician from many perspectives, especially with regard to workstation integration and reading room ergonomics. With the recent proliferation of hybrid imaging systems, this complexity has increased rapidly, along with the number of studies performed. At the same time, clinicians throughout the health care enterprise are expecting remote access to nuclear medicine images whereas nuclear medicine physicians require reliable access at the point of care to the electronic medical record and to medical images from radiology and cardiology. The authors discuss the background and challenges related to integration of nuclear medicine into the health care enterprise and provide a series of recommendations for advancing successful integration efforts. Also addressed are unique characteristics of the nuclear medicine environment as well as ergonomic, lighting, and environmental considerations in the design and redesign of the modern reading room.