Indicators to estimate radiographic film savings due to a PACS in a Mexican health institute

The scope of this paper is to evaluate the impact of PACS implementation in radiographic film (RF) savings at the Imaging Department at the National Institute of Respiratory Diseases in Mexico City, considering both Computed Tomography (CT) and Computed Radiography (CR) modalities. The PACS at the INER was installed in 2006, and the CT and CR have been operating entirely digitally since then. Therefore, the document evaluate three different periods, before the arriving of the PACS (2005), during the PACS installation (2006) and after PACS (2007). A set of indicators were designed to measure and visualize the impact of the PACS in the RF savings. Two templates are provided to define and to apply each one of the indicators proposed.