Ideally, hospitals should be able to address user needs through use of a single database.
True integration is what is missing.
One example of an emerging PACS and RIS integration problem is control of archiving and prefetching processes, traditionally a PACS function. The problem is that users wishing to view a patient's images may get different results depending on whether the image was prefetched from the RIS or from the PACS, Haramati said. While the RIS may have issued a prefetch and sent the image to the RIS user rapidly, the PACS may be unaware the exam has already been prefetched and busy itself obtaining the exam again from the slow archive. The result for the PACS user is a delay caused by lack of integration. The decentralized approach allows for disparate databases to be used for different data elements or objects.