The annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America finally exceeded its boundaries. The 1990 event was to large for the confines of McCormick Place and spilled over into the North Building. Leading manufacturers dominated the technical exhibit floor but the frenetic pace made finding 15 uninterrupted minutes for an equipment demonstration nearly impossible.

Despite the meeting's size and frenzy, no more major imaging breakthroughs were revealed. The scientific papers of note have been well documented in this magazine and else where. As in previous years, we spent the meeting roaming the halls in search of lesser know products of general interest to practicing radiologists. Here are a few of are findings:
Software programs. One of the most interesting of these was a computer program called DOCS, sold by Acme Express of Cleveland. It is an easy-to-use but sophisticated software program that produces work schedules for radiology groups of any size. The program can be set up to reflect special expertise within the group, practice rules or other parameters that customize the program to the needs of the group.

For instance, angiography, MR interpretation or fluoroscopy rotations can be limited to particular members of the radiology group. A mandatory day off after a night of being on call might be specified, and second call could be linked to a particular rotation. The schedule can add requests for days off, specific assignments and potential conflicts to this predefined information. After these data are input, the program uses an algorithm to produce a schedule as balanced as possible, using predefined parameters. The resulting schedule can be reviewed and manually changed before printing.

The DOCS Program keeps records of previously created schedules, and can generate reports detailing how equitable the radiology work load is distributed. It integrate past schedules into current ones, so that long vacations can be made up over successive periods. The program should be of interest to groups of five or more radiologists.