Digital radiography systems do not operate in a void. All digital radiography systems rely on your hospital network and your x-ray machine to function properly. Determining if your network and x-ray machine can handle the additional load of a digital radiography system should be done before the installation.

Your hospital network is composed of all of the wires, routers, switches, servers, hubs, computers and software needed to make the network functional. Before your installation you must assess whether your network is capable of handling the load of digital radiography. Digital radiographic images are very large. On some digital radiography systems the images may be as large as 20Mb per image. This is a huge volume of data. If your hospital network was not configured to handle the load of digital radiography you may find that your digital radiography system will slow down your hospital network or even crash the network. This network slowdown may even cause performance problems with your practice management software because both of the systems run on the same hospital network.

Many digital radiography systems are able to retrofit onto your existing x-ray machine. However, in many cases (notably with CCD and CR machines) there will be an increase in x-ray exposure. If you have an older x-ray machine, you absolutely, positively, must have your x-ray machine serviced and attempt to determine if your machine will be able to handle the additional load. Many older x-ray machines will crumble under the load of some digital radiography systems. Just because you can retrofit a digital system onto an old x-ray machine does not mean that the xray machine can handle the load!

Before your installation, I recommend:

1. Have your hospital network examined by an IT person with expertise in hospital networks or ask your digital radiography vendor to evaluate your network. If your digital radiography vendor does not know how to evaluate your network or recommends that you don’t have the network assessed before the install – BEWARE. They may not have the expertise needed to implement digital radiography in your hospital or they are so interested in a sale they are not working in your best interest.
2. Have your x-ray machine serviced and ask your x-ray service technician if it will be able to handle the extra load. This will be a difficult to determine because your technician will not definitively be able to determine what the remaining life is on your x-ray tube life. However, they will be able to identify any existing problems such as line voltage fluctuations, timer problems etc. that may not be causing problems with film but may cause problems after you go digital.
3. Evaluate your internet connection. In particular, evaluate the upload speed of your broadband and determine how long it will take to send an image out of your hospital.

It cannot be overstated that you are responsible to make and pay for any network upgrades that your digital radiography vendor or IT person recommends. The corollary to that statement is that if your digital radiography vendor states that your network will be able to handle the load of the digital radiography system they should be held accountable for the cost of network upgrades and network troubleshooting if they arise after installation. You should get this in writing before the final sale.

You will note that this tutorial lacks and specific recommendations about what to look for in your network to determine if your network will be able to handle the load of digital radiography. I am no network expert and that is a subject best left to the experts. What I do know is that there are many digital radiography installations that turn into disasters and end with finger pointing between the digital radiography vendor and the veterinarian where the digital radiography vendor says that they can’t complete an install because of “network issues” and the veterinarian says that they should have been warned about this before purchasing the system.

Don’t let this happen to you. If you don’t have an IT person, before your installation, hire one to evaluate your network and be your advocate during the installation. Digital radiography installations go much smoother if the digital radiography vendor has an IT person that they can work with to complete the installation.