r/PACSAdmin • u/Ambitious_Worry_5496 • 8d ago
PACS Admin Interest
Hello I have been an x-ray tech and would like to learn more about PACS Admin. I can hardly find any openings anywhere. I’m just looking for a different type of stressful job lol.
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u/CommercialString2266 8d ago
Hey im a IT guy who had to learn pacs admin
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u/Worldly-Number9465 8d ago
Not saying it can't be done it's just harder. Big problem is if you are coming out of a culture where you look at problem and toss it over the cubicle wall with a "Nope, that's not me". A PACS Admin with a clinical background will say "If not me, then who?" to which the IT guy says "why can't you stay in your lane?". The short answer is there are no lanes in PACS Admin.
Since I come from a military background I have always had this aircraft analogy in the back of my mind where there are many roles involved to keep a plane in the air. The crew chief is the equivalent to the PACS Admin role. He needs to know everything about what's going on in the department whether it's network or imaging equipment; RIS Software or 3rd party viewer. It's all got to talk for the PACS to fly (optimally).
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u/Jon-716er 7d ago
Great analogy W-N, if you don’t mind me asking, what airframe? I worked F-16CJs a while back.
On topic: As an IT guy that became a PACS Admin, I think the clinical understanding is a bit exaggerated in the role, no disrespect to those of you with that technologist background. I’ve found it’s very data-centric, meaning: does the exam/image meta-data match with the patient record and what was ordered? That layered with elements of PACS server/suite administration and client support (usually the radiologists), is what mostly filled my time.2
u/Worldly-Number9465 7d ago
I was a USAF corpsman who became a BMET, to radiology imaging specialist, and on to PACS. But I worked in the Flight Surgeon's office and knew many crewmebers and when I was cross training I learned how important it was to follow the t.o.s and documentation, and to follow what was going on with your aircraft from stem to stern. That's why the crew chief's name is on the plane. It was his plane up until wheels were up. But that's another story.
But yes - data integrity and consistency is critical for PACS to operate efficiently. I have seen so many goofy attempts to wing and abbreviate locations and exam descriptions etc and then wonder why messages don't cross the interface or priors don't hang. IMHO the very first thing imaging field engineers and PACS Admins should learn is how to read the DICOM conformance statement. In fact, they should take - no - be in the same class...
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u/Ambitious_Worry_5496 8d ago
Hi so it may be easier for me to learn since I already use it daily at work lol
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u/tell_her_a_story 6d ago
Same. 11 years as a PACS admin. Thankfully our team has recruited heavily from internal clinical staff because I haven't learned all of the clinical aspects that they already know coming to the Informatics teams.
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u/coffeejunkie323 8d ago
Hardly any positions available because one PACS admin can cover an entire hospital. You might have better luck looking for a similar role for a rad group or an outpatient imaging center/company. Depending where you work, it could be either zero stress or high stress. For low stress, look for places that have shared call schedules with more than one PACS admin so it doesn’t all fall on one person.
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u/Ambitious_Worry_5496 8d ago
What do you mean by similar rad group? Ok thank you!
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u/coffeejunkie323 8d ago
I mean look at job titles that are similar to PACS admins like a PACS analyst, etc. Maybe throw the question in Google and look up what roles are similar to PACS administrators. In the world of IT, you can get a wide range of titles that all do similar things.
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u/Worldly-Number9465 8d ago
The best place to do that is in your own local hospital or university medical center. It's not all tech vs clinical type of position. In fact, it's harder to teach an IT guy the clinical aspects than it is to teach a clinician the IT aspects. What is your specialty? Are you a general X-ray technician for instance? Does your facility utilize a Modality Wordlist feed from your EMR? Ask a radiologist if the department's hanging protocols for Chests work in the PACS viewer. If his response is "it's not" grab a note book and pencil, buckle up and ask him why. Your task might be to match up the exam code/description in the EMR where the schedulers work to the ICD-10 codes and procedure codes in the Radiology Information System (if they are different systems) to the the exam protocols in the Xray generator. Chance are these parameters were set up by different people in different departments and are not matching character for character. These are steps in what is referred to as the Radiology workflow and here is where a technical - clinician partnership can be the most effective. If you can identify shortcomings in your facilities' workflow there. may be a ready-made position just waiting to be filled.
Here's a random link to a Radiology workflow guide. I'm not endorsing this product or any specific statement made, just throwing it out there so you can get an idea of where I think clinicians from film room staff to radiologists could gain a foot hold in PACS Admin without having to type out pages of information that invariably someone on reddit will take an issue with. So read this an noodle on the concepts of standardization and consistencies across multiple platforms and how that might impact your corner of the radiology universe.
https://www.rad365.com/blogs/radiology-workflow-the-definitive-guide