Monday, May 09, 2016

YUVGE Disappointment

Our Universal Disappointment has been updated to the latest and greatest, Version 6.x. I should have been more wary, as a certain other Version 6.x has led to a lot of Pain And Constant Suffering. But no, I was optimistic. After a YEAR of having to reopen examinations four and five times to make all the images load, lo and behold, the New and Improved Universal Disappointment did indeed fix the problem. And even more exciting to us, it seemed to be more generous about showing saved measurements as well. We thought we were back in business.

Now, that's not to say that UV6 fixed everything. We still have windows covering over windows, and the measurement tool and the scrolling tool do not play nicely together. We could have lived for another year with that, if we really had to. But, no, we had to find another, far worse problem.

Last week, the second week of UV6 deployment, things started drifting downhill. We would get an occasional presentation state error when loading old PET's for comparison. No big deal.  But today, things took a nose-dive. We can no longer load ANYTHING, new or old. We get these rather cryptic messages instead:



Someone want to tell me WHO the F... Dakota might be? Are we talking about Dakota Fanning? What would she have to do with my PACS? North Dakota? South Dakota? Is that where GE keeps its cloud? Must be raining up there.

We are dead in the water, once again proving Dalai's First Law:  PACS IS the Radiology Department. No PACS, no exams, no patient care.

GE, you should be ashamed. You made us wait a YEAR for this update that fixed a "coding problem" that should have been fixed 51 weeks ago with a minor hotfix. NOW you deploy a faulty upgrade that has taken us down completely? Really? Don't you boys and girls ever even test your software before unleashing it on the masses?

GE took a fantastic product, Dynamic Imaging's IntegradWeb, and ran it into the ground. I can promise this particular site will NEVER purchase anything from GE again, and if anyone asks me in my waning years about GE products, I won't have much nice to say.

UV now earns the dreaded Dalai Do Not Buy designation. No surprise.


ADDENDUM...

We're back up. The problem was "a setting got changed that made the system look in the wrong places for things." Perhaps it was checking Fargo and not Rapid City.

Friday, May 06, 2016

Siemens Health-Imagineers

From Siemens comes this press-release:
Today Siemens Healthcare unveiled its new brand name Siemens Healthineers. The new brand underlines Siemens Healthcare's pioneering spirit and its engineering expertise in the healthcare industry. It is unique and bold and best describes the Healthcare organization and its people – the people accompanying, serving and inspiring customers – the people behind outstanding products and solutions.

"We have an exceptional track record of engineering and scientific excellence and are consistently at the forefront of developing innovative clinical solutions that enable providers to offer efficient, high quality patient care. Going forward as Siemens Healthineers, we will leverage this expertise to provide a wider range of customized clinical solutions that support our customers business holistically. We are confident in our capability to become their inspiring partner on our customers' journey to success", explained Bernd Montag, CEO of the company. "Our new brand is a bold signal for our ambition and expresses our identity as a people company – 45,000 employees worldwide who are passionate about empowering healthcare providers to optimally serve their patients."

As part of its Vision 2020 strategy Siemens AG announced nearly two years ago that its healthcare business would be separately managed as a company within the company with a new organizational setup. Siemens Healthineers will continue to strengthen its leading portfolio across the medical imaging and laboratory diagnostics business while adding new offerings such as managed services, consulting and digital services as well as further technologies in the growing market for therapeutic and molecular diagnostics.

The name of the legal entities will remain unchanged.
I heard about this new moniker a few days ago, from a friend high up in the Siemens hierarchy. It took me a moment to place the term, and then I realized why it sounded familiar...From the Disney Imaginations website:


About Imagineering
Walt Disney Imagineering is the unique, creative force behind Walt Disney Parks and Resorts that dreams up, designs and builds all Disney theme parks, resorts, attractions, cruise ships, real estate developments, and regional entertainment venues worldwide. Imagineering’s unique strength comes from the dynamic global team of creative and technical professionals building on the Disney legacy of storytelling to pioneer new forms of entertainment through technical innovation and creativity.

The name “Imagineering” combines imagination with engineering. Building upon the legacy of Walt Disney, Imagineers bring art and science together to turn fantasy into reality and dreams into magic.
I really think this is an incredible way to view healthcare software, although maybe a little difficult to roll off the tongue. Still, I predicted a cooperative effort of this sort way back in 2008...

It's far better than someone else's motto..."ImaGinE It Works..."