On-premise DAM saves time and money, and enables HIPAA compliance
Preparing for an autopsy conference may not be at the top of everyone’s weekly to-do list, but residents at OHSU’s Pathology Department at the School of Medicine, in Portland OR, prepare and attend one every Thursday morning. As a requirement of their Pathology rotation, residents must make a weekly presentation on an assigned case. Preparing for the presentation includes taking pictures at autopsies.
The department began lookingfor a solution that would provide effi cient identification and cataloging of new photos and easy access to stored images.
The Challenge:
A growing library of on- and off-line images, including thousands of legacy 35mm slides
Filing and sharing of huge libraries of photos
Approximately 1,200 new images produced monthly
New residents (new end users) rotate into the Pathology Department every 6-8 weeks
Short timelines to create new presentations every week
Previous technology issues led to resistance to seek a new DAM solution
Any new technology had to account for HIPAA
Company Profile
Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), located in Portland, Oregon, is the state’s only health and research university, and its fourth largest business employer. Each year, OHSU cares for over 188,000 patients, supports 3,200 research projects, educates over 3,500 students and subsidizes 200 public service programs.
Project Goals:
Implement easy-to-use digital asset management tool
Organize images for easy retrieval
Streamline process of capturing, managing and producing images for presentations
Solution Implemented:
Portfolio DAM Server and Browser Clients
Results:
Improved image quality
Quick and easy access of images by faculty members
Saved time, materials and money
Streamlined process of producing, naming, and storing images
"We needed a solution to efficiently access our ever-growing library of images – Portfolio Server was it"
Charles Fredman, Systems/Applications Analyst in the Pathology Department, had worked with existing DAM software at OHSU, but felt Portfolio DAM Server better fit their needs for a powerful DAM solution that was easy to use and deploy. He set up two imaging stations for the residents to use, and added two more within three months of setting up Portfolio. Fredman set up a custom database so users could enter specific data regarding the items being photographed, including keywords. The entered data becomes metadata stored with each of the photographs in a particular set. Files are renamed by date and station used, a number sequence is assigned, and the images are stored on a central server.
“Residents now quickly access the stored images from any of twenty computers available,” explains Fredman. “By typing in the case number, Portfolio’s QuickFind feature takes them straight to the images they need for their presentation. Producing and finding the images they need has become a simple task.”
With images cataloged and easily retrievable, faculty members also use Portfolio DAM to find images of specific cases and use them in their lectures. Fredman adds, “Since some lectures change with new advances in technique or treatment, our faculty members need to periodically update or make changes to their existing lectures. Our faculty now use one of our Portfolio stations to access the centralized database of images and quickly fi nd exactly what they need to make their updates.”
Immediate feedback from digital capture results in better quality photos
Faculty now has easy access to images from the file server (one faculty member saves between three to four hours a week)
Accessibility to images has improved significantly;
images can easily be shared as well
Using Portfolio Server, Fredman was able to meet the specific objectives that the Pathology Department was looking for in implementing a DAM solution, as well as meet the broader goal of saving both time and money for department staff.