Description:

You can choose how end users search for exams in DocScanFx using the DefaultDICOMSearchMethod INI option.  By default the user will be able to search with a variety of criteria, however, several other options exist.  Choose whichever one best suits the needs of your end users.  Examples with screenshots and and additional details are provided below.  The available settings for DefaultDICOMSearchMethod are:

  • MRN- Default, user can search by medical record number.
  • Accession- search by accession number.
  • Auto- no search option, a search will be performed automatically and results shown to end user.
  • DOB- search by birth date.
  • Multiple- multiple different search options are presented to the end user so they can choose any combination of exam date, MRN, name, birth date, modality or accession number.
  • None- useful for when searching isn't an option and all patient and exam demographic information needs to be entered automatically.  Note that a semi-manual mode can be used to search for exams but only apply the patient demographics and the exam level details are entered manually by the user.
  • Import- puts DocScanFx in DICOM import mode. DICOM import won't be discussed in this article.  Go here for more information on importing.


Examples:


MRN Search

A single search box is enabled for typing in a medical record number.  By default the cursor is in this box and pressing enter after typing is the same as clicking the magnifying glass button to initiate the search.  Note that a barcode scanner could be used to enter the MRN.

DefaultDICOMSearchMethod=MRN


Accession Search

A single search box is enabled for typing in an accession number.  By default the cursor is in this box and pressing enter after typing is the same as clicking the magnifying glass button to initiate the search.  Note that a barcode scanner could be used to enter the accession number.

DefaultDICOMSearchMethod=Accession


Auto Search

In auto search mode the end user is not prompted to enter any search information and instead a search is automatically performed.  The search results are dependent on the date range chosen in the mode and if a modality is specified.  The results of this search are displayed for the end user to pick from.  This is a convenient option to choose when you don't want the techs to have to enter any exam or patient information.  An example would be running DocScanFx for your CT techs.  Using auto search a list of all CT patients is shown and the tech only needs to click on their current patient to make a selection.  Note the settings below for choosing the search criteria and the search auto-refresh rate (in minutes).  Also note that users can manually refresh the search at any time by clicking the "Search Results" title at the top of the search results section.

DefaultDICOMSearchMethod=Auto
DicomSearchModality=CT
DicomSearchDateRange=Today
AutoSearchModeRefreshTime=5


Birth Date Search

Sometimes a birth date search is the best method to lookup patient exams.  For instance, say you have a back log of ultrasound worksheets to scan into PACS and unfortunately the forms only have a patient name and birth date on them.  Creating a mode to do birth date searches would avoid the manual lookup of those forms in another database first.  Note the use of the INI option DateFormat which can be changed to support other regional formats.  In addition, for faster data entry end users can omit date separators and/or shorten the years to 2 digits as long as the resulting date isn't ambiguous.

DefaultDICOMSearchMethod=DOB
DateFormat=MM/DD/YYYY


Multi-Search

The multiple search option is available so end users have very flexible search options to use multiple criteria for finding exams they need to add documentation to.  Name, MRN, DOB, Gender, Accession, Exam Date, and Modality fields are all checked for data when the magnifying glass button is clicked to perform a multi-faceted search.  In the code example and screenshot below, the DicomSearchModality has been forced to "CT" so the end user cannot change the modality type.  Omitting this INI option will allow the end user to pick from a drop down list of modalities.  The DicomSearchDateRange sets what the "Default" date option is if no selection is made.  Many more multi-search INI options are available.  Search the "DocScan INI Settings" PDF file in the Resources folder of your DocScanFX install for "MultiSearch" to see all the available configuration options.

DefaultDICOMSearchMethod=Multiple
DicomSearchModality=CT
DicomSearchDateRange=1-Today


Manual and Semi-Manual

Manual mode is used when there is no archive entry to query and no modality worklist entry to obtain patient/exam details from.  The end user is required to type in all the patient and exam information.  In the code sample below the first two lines must be set to enable a full manual mode.  The final option shows a use of macros to generate a unique accession number based on current date and time information.  For more information about macros click here.

DefaultDICOMSearchMethod=None
ModeWorkflow=Manual
SetAccession=R{{NowYear}}{{NowMonth}}{{NowDay}}{{NowHour}}{{NowMinute}}{{NowSecond}}




A semi-manual mode can be used to allow users to search for patient exams but only insert the patient information and the exam details would need to be manually entered.  Use semi-manual mode in situations where you don't want to type in the patient demographics but you need to manually create a new exam.  One example of the use of this would be where you have outside documents to scan into your PACS as one new exam and therefore you didn't have an existing exam to attach them to.  You could search for any previous studies on the patient select one and have it fill in the patient details for you.  Semi-manual search mode is enabled by using any previously described search settings, but adding the option OnlyInsertQueriedPatientData=True.

DefaultDICOMSearchMethod=Multiple
ModeWorkflow=Query
OnlyInsertQueriedPatientData=True