| The Remote Consultation and Diagnosis (RCD) in Global Picture Archiving and Communication System (Global PACS) is a unique suite of multimedia telemedicine applications developed at the University of Arizona. The applications support real-time patients' data, image files, audio and video consultation and diagnosis annotation exchanges. The RCD enables joint collaboration between pathologists, radiologists, or physicians while they are at distant geographical locations. This project provides four RCD scenarios, i.e., Case Review, Case Acquire, Store and Forward Analysis, as well as Interactive Diagnosis and Consultation. The RCD Global PACS environment consists of heterogeneous, autonomous, and legacy resources. The Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA), Java Database Connectivity (JDBC), and Java language provide the capability to combine the RCD Global PACS resources into an integrated, interoperable, and scalable system. The underneath technology, including IDL, ORB, Event Service, IIOP, JDBC/ODBC, legacy system wrapping and Java implementation are explored. This distributed collaborative CORBA/JDBC based framework will challenge the advanced, medical information management requirements. It also makes the RCD Global PACS both hardware and software technologically independent. As our research and development extend, we will continue to incorporate the latest advances in computer technology. RCD Global PACS is not another new tool in telemedicine, but rather a new paradigm for the delivery of health services that requires process reengineering, cultural changes, as well as organizational changes. It is a whole new way of practicing in telemedicine. We ensure that the RCD Global PACS project has long-term, comprehensive solutions for today and tomorrow's healthcare needs. |
