Is Digital Radiography a Good Fit for your Practice?

The best digital radiography fit for your business depends on your veterinary practice needs and the type of equipment you purchase. While it is always important to move with the times and invest in the best technology you can afford, for some practices a digital radiology system may be more appropriate than others. Here’s how to work out the best fit for your business.

What is Digital Radiography for Vets?

The term digital radiography refers to any type of imaging machinery that produces images without the need for X-ray film. Digital radiology in the veterinary practice has many advantages over traditional film, including improved image quality, less need for retakes, better patient care, and more accurate diagnosis. Depending on the system, it doesn’t work uniformly for all practices. There are advantages and disadvantages you need to weigh-up before you invest fully in digital radiology solutions.

What are the Advantages of Digital Radiology?

Using digital radiology from a supplier like www.photon-imaging.com usually results in fewer retakes because the systems have a greater margin of error built in and the problems created using film in terms of exposure errors are minimised. You get a better end result on more occasions when you use digital X-ray in your practice. You can also get a second opinion much more easily without the need to actually mail film to a specialist or other practice. This meant you had to wait a few days to make a diagnosis; with digital imaging you can get immediate access to a second opinion.

Digital X-ray systems are often much easier to use than traditional film-based X-ray systems. You do not generally have to have high levels of technical expertise in order to generate good quality images. When looking at different systems, weigh up the cost and the features with the functionality and the ease of operation – an intuitive system is worth much more to a small practice than a machine that takes weeks of training to get the hang of. It also helps when a machine can be used by all members of staff and not just the computer experts.

Is Digital Imaging Cheaper for the Vet’s Surgery?

Whether you save money after you install the kind of digital imaging equipment supplied by www.photon-imaging.com largely depends on your individual practice. You can reduce costs because you do not need to install a darkroom or have space to store large quantities of film. You do not have to pay for film processing. But the cost savings will be greatest for the practices that are larger and generally spend more on imaging. You can generate considerable savings in terms of efficiency when you are dealing with a large amount of images each day. Smaller practices may not see as much of a cost benefit, particularly when you take into account the price of the machine. When you are considering a digital imaging system, look at the amount of money you will have to spend on upgrades or software improvements over the next few years. You could end up paying a lot in order to keep your machinery up to date.