Wiimote yields both comfort and speed for radiologists

Monday, November 29 | 11:00 a.m.-11:10 a.m. | SSC08-04 | Room S402AB
Can an image viewer driven by a Nintendo Wii remote hold its own against a clinical PACS workstation? Researchers from Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City will share their surprising results in this session.

A flexible user interface is important to reduce the risk of repetitive stress injuries. Unfortunately, flexibility isn't a characteristic associated with the traditional mouse and keyboard PACS interface, which features frequent mouse scrolling to navigate through images.

However, the customizable Wiimote controller -- with its use of accelerometers, lack of a scroll wheel, and infinite number of hand and arm positions -- does fit the bill, according to presenter Matthew Amans, MD.

Previously, the Weill Cornell researchers found that an internally developed viewer specially designed to work with the Wiimote could be as accurate for radiologists as conventional PACS workstation software. In this research project, the study team sought to compare its speed with a clinical PACS.

After a short training session, 12 radiologists with varying levels of experience were found to be as fast using the Wiimote to navigate studies as they are with PACS.

"It is unlikely that implementation of a device such as the Wiimote would decrease productivity and [it] may improve workplace safety," Amans told AuntMinnie.com.

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