Integrating Patient Photographs with Radiography Studies

PROJECT SUMMARY ABSTRACTDESCRIPTIONThe objective of this proposal is to implementassessand enhance a novel technology that can automatically obtain patient photographs at the point of care of medical imaging and thus provide a biometric identifier to prevent wrong patient errorsWrong patient errors in radiologywhere one patientandapos s medical imaging study is erroneously placed in another patientandapos s record in the picture archiving and communications systemPACScan cause serious complications for both involved patientsDespite the use of the Joint Commission mandated dual identifier techniquewrong patient errors continue to occurPatient facial photographs obtained at the point of care of medical imaging can serve as biometric identifiers that are easily obtainedintrinsicyet externally visible and non obtrusively obtainedPrior work by the investigators has demonstrated that such photographs can significantly increase the detection of simulated wrong patient errors in pre clinical observer studiesCompeting technologies such as fingerprint identifierspalm vein mapping or retinal scanningwhile using intrinsic identifiersare obtrusiveother technologies that rely on patient armbands with barcodeswhile nonobtrusiveonly provide extrinsic identifiers that are not unique to the patientCameRad TechnologiesLLC is developing this technology the PatCamTM systemwith two main componentsa camera device and an integration serverThe integration server accurately matches the photographs with the correct medical imaging studies and then stores them together in the PACSIn this proposalCameRad will pursue the following aims to de risk the technology on the path to commercializationIn Aimthe investigators will demonstrate that their technology is vendor neutral and can operate in a highly securecontrolled environmentby implementing the system at the Veterans Affairs Maryland Healthcare Systemandapos sVAMHCSMcKesson PACSThey will then assess whether the technology can increase error detectiondecrease interpretation timeand be perceived favorably by radiologists in a clinical setting at VAMHCSIn AimCameRad will develop an automated system face verification system for flagging potentially misidentified imaging studies for review by humansAchievement of these aims are critical in preparation for a Phase II SBIR projectwhich will involve a multi center clinical workflow study to demonstrate that patient photographs canincrease detection of wrong patient errors clinically andincrease radiologist interpreter efficiencyMost importantlythe potential future impact of this technology is that it can personalize medical imaging studies thereby increasing the focus of interpreting physicians PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE STATEMENT Wrong patient errors in radiologywhere one patientandapos s medical images are erroneously placed in another patientandapos s electronic chartcan cause serious problems for both involved patientsCameRad TechnologiesLLC will implement and assess a novel technology that automatically and simultaneously obtains a patientandapos s facial photograph along with each medical imaging examinationThese photographswhich act as positive patient identifierscan significantly increase the detection rate of wrong patient errors andat the same timealso decrease the interpretation time of imaging studies since they provide some additional clinical clues about patient status