Atirix Medical Systems

At the heart of the patented QC-Track system is the workflow manager. The workflow manager ensures that all of your sites, rooms, and QC teams are following a pre-defined QC schedule with consistent practices for all QC situations. The workflow manager does this with a combination of data gathering, communications, and reporting.

What does this mean for your technologist team? The QC-Track workflow manager helps make sure that things get done on schedule by notifying technologists of current and past-due tests, guiding data entry via worksheets, and tracking failures. It means your team can move to managing by exception, thereby gaining efficiency in day-to-day management of quality control.

One of our advising physicists said it well, "In QC systems, the easy stuff is easy; the hard stuff is really hard." We think he did a nice job of capturing the challenge of any quality control system. He also captured the spirit of the QC-Track workflow: make the day-to-day use of the system simple, while having the depth to be able to handle the full range of situations -- like failures, rooms down, holidays, related accessories, etc. -- that come up in real-life imaging QC.

In the QC-Track workflow, both the QC Dashboard and the Device Worksheets list show the technologist all tests that are due or past due. QC Worksheets gather QC test data. And the timing of tests is controlled by the QC Test Schedule. First, the QC Worksheet.

QC Worksheets
QC Worksheets gather, evaluate, and record QC test data in the QC-Track database. The collection of QC Worksheets for all of the tests needed for an imaging unit, such as a Hologic DBT system, is a Worksheet Template.

Built-in Editor
QC-Track worksheets are created and customized by the Atirix Implementation Team using the built-in QC-Track Editor. The Editor generates worksheets optimized for quality control needs. The Editor comprises a full range of operators for QC data capture and processing, including calculations with thresholds, pass/fail fields, constants, pull-forward fields, and, optionally, a full range of advanced math and phantom image analysis capabilities. QC-Track worksheets also have comment fields, required/optional fields, multiple recording options to accommodate room closed or holiday situations, and more.

Baselines, Constants, and Thresholds
Baselines, constants, and thresholds can be set across all imaging units in a modality or set and maintained for each imaging unit.

Modality Specific Capabilities
QC Worksheets have modality-specific capabilities. For example, daily CT uniformity worksheets can be alternated for helical and axial views. Likewise, MRI worksheets can pull forward and compare the previous center field frequency, per ACR requirements.

Test Failures
With the QC-Track worksheet, the technologist is given on-the-spot notification of failures. Any field values that fall outside pre-defined thresholds are highlighted, and QC-Track provides coaching on the fields that are failing. The technologist is given the chance to review the data, fix any data entry errors, and re-calculate. If the test is still failing, the test is recorded as a failed test, failure emails are triggered for on-the-spot notification, and a failure log entry is recorded. Technologists are encouraged to enter comments, and resolution notes are recorded for failed tests for a complete history of the failure.

Audit Log
All worksheet data entry is stored in the central Audit Log with user and time stamps for a full record of all QC activity.

Worksheet Templates
Worksheet Templates are pre-built collections of QC-Track worksheets for a device. Over one hundred templates across all imaging modalities are available from Atirix and can be used off-the-shelf or customized to meet specific QC needs. Standard QC-Track worksheets rely on data being entered by the technologist. Automated Phantom QC is available for worksheets to have data entered both by the automated QC-Track algorithms and by the technologist. In all cases, QC-Track worksheets keep the technologist in control of the QC workflow.

QC Dashboard
QC Dashboard shows the current tests for all of the devices in a department. From the dashboard, technologists view, sort, and select due and past-due tests and use built-in links to go to worksheets and graphs. Current tests drop off QC Dashboard once they are completed.

Device Worksheet
Another way to see the tests assigned for a device is with the Device Worksheets list, an interactive tool for at-a-glance management of all tests for a device, including recently completed tests, upcoming due dates, and links to worksheets and graphs. The Device Worksheets list is a convenient way to get to unscheduled tests for a device, as might be needed to pass a test after repair on an imaging unit.

QC Test Schedule
The QC Test Schedule precisely controls the timing of Worksheets associated with a device. All tests, from daily to annual, can be scheduled and tracked. Caution emails can also be set to trigger before tests become overdue. Worksheet entry time can also be limited in order to prevent backdating of QC tests.