Boy is this annoying. We have lots of 00000000 (eight) patient IDs in our system. Eight zeros PID is the default Conquest assigns when it receives images with a blank PID field. Many of our GE and Philips ultrasound units do not set the PID field until the tech leaves the patient demographics screen. However, since our techs capture the patient demographic screen, it is captured with a blank PID (and then also with a PID, as the screen is always present in the study under the patients PID number). Some have learned to leave the screen and then return to it prior to capture, in which case all is well.

The issue is that, while 99% of the images in Conquest with eight zeros are garbage and can be quickly removed through maintenance, they periodically end up causing duplicate SOP records, which then causes images to not transfer properly. I do not profess to truly understand how SOP IDs are used, I just know that when duplicates appear, so does trouble. And since this is most often caused by apparently poor programming of the ultrasound modalities, it would sure be nice if GE and Philips saved the PID to the file when the capture button is pressed.

While Conquest has served us very well for what it is, and given how we use and abuse it, I am anxiously looking forward to our IntelePACS solution, with modality worklists and RIS integration. Just including those two elements alone will make a world of difference, IntelePACS, Conquest, or any PACS system. I am sure there will be problems with it, just as there are with Conquest, at least they will be new problems, and we will have better ability to address them.

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