Reimagining Radiology with Cris
Radiology has moved on significantly since its inception in the early 1900s, from glass photographic plates to digital solutions that have transformed workflow in diagnostic imaging. The digitisation of medical imaging has created an environment for the next wave of exciting new developments such as machine learning and radiology Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Our market-leading Radiology Information System (RIS) Cris is the most widely used in the UK and has been built by industry experts with unrivalled radiology workflow experience. To date we are present in over 700 locations, supporting more than 200,000 users and handling 25 million imaging events per year.
The latest generation of Cris features a range of modules designed to deliver the best experience to customers. In this blog we explore some of the new features in more detail, including some which have enabled radiologists to work safely during the pandemic.
Cris Reporting
Cris Reporting is a state of the art zero-footprint solution that offers granular control of the radiology workflow. Cris Reporting is powered using work allocation rules and filters, easily controlled locally by the clinician or centrally by the departmental policies. Supports cloud-based VR solutions and enables radiologists to easily work from other locations, including from home, with the same user experience.
Cris Vetting and Microsoft Teams Integration
Cris Vetting is the workflow for assigning protocols and justification for exams by radiologists. The module allows system administrators to electronically assign vetting requests to named clinicians. It highlights bottlenecks in the workflow which enables proactive assignment or reassignment of work.
We introduced Microsoft Teams integration within Cris Vetting to allow radiologists to communicate directly with the referring clinician. The new feature also enables MDTs (multidisciplinary teams) to meet virtually to discuss urgent matters, reducing delays in diagnosis and providing better care for patients.
Cris Scheduler
Cris Scheduler is a visual representation of a dynamic work list, enabling booking clerks and radiologists to see the journey of a patient as they move through the department, from arrival and examination to the time they left. Where enabled, the solution can also display availability across different hospitals, allowing booking clerks to easily identify available appointments for primary or follow-up procedures.
Cris Scheduler is designed to make it easier for booking clerks and clinicians to edit and view patient appointments and features an intuitive filter which means admin staff can work through a number of bookings in one go, rather than having to return to the main work list to make changes.
It also enables hospitals and NHS Trusts to set up customisable KPIs and allocate breach dates to ensure they are meeting national targets, for example four-hour A&E turnaround times or an inpatient being seen on the same day for imaging.
Cris Connect
Cris Connect has been designed to support multiple organisational workflows, including reporting, scheduling and vetting. These workflows can be adopted across single instance groupings or distributed installations. It enables radiologists to work seamlessly from home and access reports on their own devices, clearing the backlog of reports and ensuring quicker diagnosis for patients. It reduces outsourcing costs by connecting the dots between trusts, enabling them to share resource and put images in front of the right people, at the right time.
The new Cris Connect timer system also monitors how quickly an image has been processed. If it exceeds the limit, then it will be sent out to a wider group across different Trusts so that another specialist can report or vet the image to avoid a backlog building.
Cris Order Comms
Cris Order Comms is designed to speed up patient care, reduce risk and improve safety by minimising delays in diagnosis and enhancing productivity. It enables users to track and view results from procedures in real time and is compatible with mobile devices to facilitate remote reporting.
Cris Advanced Order Comms
Cris Advanced Order Comms enhances existing healthcare integrations by adding additional alerts to the workflow. These alerts highlight failed or cancelled order messages from the Order Comms system (OCS) to radiology and notify referrers of any patients who did not attend.
Cris Analytics
Cris Analytics is a highly customisable module that provides a web-based visual overview of radiology activity. It allows senior management to plan and make informed decisions based on criteria such as outstanding appointments, reporting turnaround times and DNAs, all of which are presented in a single dashboard. Unlike other Business Intelligence tools, which traditionally generate 24-hour snapshots, Cris Analytics provides real-time data from the department for up to the minute updates, and when deployed across a consortia or region, it supports cross-organisational planning.
Patient Attend
According to recent data, more than two million people have been waiting longer than 18 weeks for routine operations, with 83,000 waiting more than a year. By putting social distancing measures in place, we are able to ease the growing NHS backlog by reassuring patients it is safe to attend appointments, while enabling clinicians to see more patients without the limitations of waiting rooms.
Our Patient Attend feature for Cris allows radiology departments to implement social distancing measures in line with COVID-19 guidelines. Patients can check-in for their appointments remotely and simply wait to be notified, removing the need to sit in a waiting room.
For more information or to arrange a demo of our radiology software, please do get in touch.
