While advancements in technology have made life saving accomplishments, it is safe to say that technology is not perfect. In fact, relying on it blindly in emergency situations would be foolhardy. In fact, every surgeon knows that going in blind should never be a first or even second thought. While it may seem like there aren’t many options other than canceling the surgery, you will be pleased to hear that there are many reliable alternatives to performing such a dangerous feat.
Everyone Needs A Backup Plan
Here’s the thing - technology can be fallible and sometimes it doesn’t do what we need it to do in the moment. In the operating room for instance, surgeons need immediate and reliable access to veterinary images pertinent to the patient’s procedure. Most surgeons today choose to go with the Cloud. If you don’t already know, the Cloud (when done right) enables immediate sharing, access, and mobility with veterinary imaging. So essentially you don’t have to be restricted to a single device, monitor, workstation, etc.
The problem arises when your practice’s Cloud instance is down. What do you do when your patient is already under anesthesia? What if you have already opened them up? You have no roadmap to guide you during surgery since your Cloud is down. The answer to this conundrum is one of two things. First, you could look to getting an enterprise Cloud PACS solution. One where the headaches are outsourced to the experts. One where the Cloud cannot go down due to thorough backup implementations in place….But what if that is just not the answer you are looking for? It is possible that you are not in the market for such a purchase. Well, while there are many afforable PACS options out there, the next option you have is PiX: an advanced, evolutionary patient portal.
Why PiX?
With PiX you are actually granting the pet parent a degree of power and involvement in the veterinary care of Fido and Fluffy. Essentially, if your pet parents have PiX, they have the capability to upload the veterinary images of their animals onto their account. From this account they can then share in real time those images with the veterinarians that require the images for making a diagnosis, records, and even surgery. It’s the perfect back up to a local Cloud instance as those images can be shared by pet parents and accessed by veterinarians anywhere in the world, at any time….on any device.
So the next time you are in surgery, and your patient is lying on the table and has already been opened up - never again worry if your instance will fail. With PiX, the pet parent sitting in the waiting room can instantly share the images before the surgery to ensure the a foolproof backup. Additionally, you yourself can use PiX. By downloading PiX, you can upload the images pertaining to your surgeries the day of, the night before, 3 weeks before - you choose. You can then have your PiX account open on the device in the OR, and if you need a backup, you don’t even have to ask an already nervous pet parent to share the images with you.
Final Thought
Cloud based PACS solutions are advantageous technological advancements. However, if that Cloud instance is local to your practice and not one provided by a vendor that has the proper backups in place, you are still taking an enormous risk. Vendors can bypass this concern due to having an implementation in place in numerous geographical locations to avoid such scenarios. While we suggest having the right Cloud solution implemented to avoid such scenarios, the next best and far more affordable approach is to use a product like PiX. Unlike a traditional Cloud PACS setup, PiX is accessible and affordable to veterinarians as well as pet parents making it simpler for all parties to ensure the immediate access of veterinary images when they are need, where they are needed.
