Terminology and acronyms used in the Information Technology industry.
Acronym |
Term |
Meaning |
IT |
Information Technology |
Blanket term meaning communications, computing and data storage technology |
IM&T |
Information Management & Technology |
Blanket term meaning communications, computing and data storage technology |
ICT |
Information Computing Technology |
Blanket term meaning communications, computing and data storage technology |
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Healthcare IT Infrastructure |
Voice and data communications network, data storage, computer servers and users computers providing the foundation for enterprise applications ranging from a telephone through to Word Processors and MRI systems. |
PACS |
Picture Archival & Communication System |
Industry accepted term used to identify a radiological image storage and distribution system based on filmless communications technology. |
RIS |
Radiology Information System |
A system that provides the information management features that hospital Radiology departments need for daily business. Typically includes patient tracking, billing and administrative programs and also may include clinical features. |
HIS /PAS |
Hospital Information System / Patient Administration System |
A system that provides the information management features that hospitals need for daily business. Typically includes patient records, patient tracking, billing and administrative programs and also may include clinical features. |
DICOM |
Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine |
The industry standard for radiological image communications, an application-layer protocol that resides at the top several layers of the Open System Interconnect (OSI) reference model for data communications. |
HL7 |
Hospital Level 7 |
The ANSI standard for information interchange between foreign systems in the healthcare industry. The "7" refers to the fact that the protocol is designed to address the 7th layer of the International Standards Organization's Open System Interconnect model (the application layer) |
IHE |
Integrated Healthcare Environment |
Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) originated in the late 1990s in the United States during a concentrated action between radiologists and technical personnel to improve the interoperation of hospital information systems. |
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Imaging Modalities |
Types of medical imaging systems. The best known and most common are X-Ray, CT (Computed Tomography), MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging), Ultrasound, NM (Nuclear Medicine) and PET (Positron Emission Tomography). |
LAN |
Local Area Network |
A computer communications system limited to no more than a few miles and using high-speed connections (10 to 1000 megabits per second). A short-haul communications system that connects computer systems in a building or group of buildings within a few square kilometres, including workstations, front-end processors, controllers, switches, and gateways. |
WAN |
Wide Area Network |
A computer network covering a large geographical area, usually consisting of two or more LANs. |
NIC |
Network Interface Controller |
Hardware device used to interface computer devices to an ethernet network. |
R&D |
Research and Development |
Research into the development of new technology products. In the context of this web-site this relates to computer electronics and software. Development is the application of engineering and management skills to design and implement a product or sub-system using knowledge gained through research. |