Radiologist assessment of PACS user interface devices.

Introduction: The process of radiologic interpretation has been revolutionized with the adoption of filmless imaging. Despite the radical change in viewing techniques and a rapidly expanding array of display, navigation, and manipulation tools, the keyboard-and-mouse configuration remains the standard for user interaction during radiologic interpretation.

Method: In this study, 6 readers evaluated 6 alternative user interface devices (UIDs), including 5-button and 8-button mice, a gyroscopic mouse, a multimedia controller, a handheld mouse-and-keyboard combination device, and a gaming joystick. Each participant assessed each device during the real-time daily imaging interpretation of magnetic resonance, computed tomographic, and general x-ray studies over a 2-week period and completed a detailed questionnaire on the ease of use, comparative utility as an alternative device to mouse and QWERTY keyboard, efficiency, workflow, and the ease of customized programming.

Results: No single device was completely able to replace the mouse and keyboard in the estimation of participants, and the 5-button mouse was preferred over the 8-button mouse, although several participants noted that this might be a function of learning curves that exceeded the 2-week study period for each device. Several specific functionalities of the alternative UIDs were praised by users, who also suggested the possibility of combining these alternative devices for 2-handed use.

Conclusion: Consideration should be given to the potential for the increased acceptance of and efficiency with alternative UIDs that can be integrated into picture archiving and communications system (PACS) workstations. Additional studies are planned to use software applications to evaluate different UIDs at PACS workstations.