Imaging Associates Wonthaggi puts Philips CT 5300 to the test

In this short video, Dr. Johan Smalberger and his team share their insights about Philips CT 5300 at Imaging Associates Wonthaggi, which serves the Bass Coast health community in Victoria, Australia. Dr. Smalberger is Clinical Director for Radiology Services.

“At Imaging Associates we're fortunate that we have a fleet of high-quality CT machines. The Philips CT 5300 overall is delivering excellent quality imaging regardless of things like patient size, how much contrast the patient has, movement artifact and things like that, and balanced with patient safety,” he says.

Dr. Smalberger points out the overall need to reduce radiation levels for patient safety while maintaining excellent image quality: “We’re getting that really high-quality imaging, but using low radiation doses, in particular for things like CT head scans. With Philips the CT 5300, the dose levels are much lower compared to some of the other vendors that we have. So reduced dose, excellent image quality, it's a win-win.”

As a radiologist, Dr. Smalberger appreciates the enhanced diagnostic confidence he’s able to have based on consistent, high-quality imaging in a busy environment, noting, “It’s an excellent service for our referrers, but also from a radiologist point of view, being able to be confident that we're making accurate diagnostic calls. This site is very busy and so really the machine is pushed very hard and it's able to produce high-quality imaging again and again. It's slotted in very nicely into the workflow. I know that for the MIT (medical imaging technology) team, they found the automatic reconstructions to be very useful. I think in terms of using tech like that, whereby it streamlines processes that would usually be manual, that helps at every step.”

Will Jennings, Radiographer at Imaging Associates, agrees about the importance of streamlined workflow. “The best thing that CT 5300 delivers for patient care is its speed in between patients. The CT 5300 touchscreen is incredible with patient care because you're able to set it up quickly before the scan begins. A great feature of the CT machine is the automatic MPRs, which means more time spent scanning patients and less time creating images. This machine has far less warm-up time, which significantly reduces the amount of scan time. The machine is incredibly intuitive. It was very easy to understand all of the apps involved with it.”

Radiographer Vicky Murfin also appreciates the enhanced image quality and smooth workflow. “I feel that the image quality has gone leaps and bounds. I did a facial bones scan with contrast this morning and it just makes everything pop. It's so much easier to see your pathology and special views. It allows you to view your images quite instantaneously compared to some of the other systems where there's a little bit more of a lag. It just gives you that ability to move between your console and the room quickly so that you can be confident that you don't need to go and do that a little bit more through the pelvis, or that you've covered the anatomy of interest to the extent that you need to as a tech.”

What has it been like to work with the Philips team to get the CT 5300 system up and running, as well as for ongoing support? According to Dr. Smalberger: “Working with the Philips team has been a really easy process and it's been great to get to know the team, and they've been proactive in terms of setting things up, troubleshooting, making sure that the team have enough training and support. That is really valued in terms of not just having the technology available for our patients, but also having the support from their team going forward has been excellent.”