Linking radiology equipment service and medical physics survey databases.

During the performance of medical physics surveys on diagnostic imaging equipment, it is not unusual to find problems requiring service. In the work described in this article, two existing and separate databases, one for radiology equipment maintenance and the other for medical physics surveys were linked. By linking the two databases we have closed the loop in our documentation. The two databases are integrated so that when logging a survey, a single mouse click will allow the user to initiate a service call and link it to the survey. In addition, any survey linked to a service call permits the user to view the service record with a single mouse click. This allows us within the medical physics database to document the resolution of problems as well as to keep track of the status of service calls initiated as a result of medical physics surveys.