The Medical Council of New Zealand

Earlier this year Desktop Imaging began a three month project supporting the Medical Council of New Zealand by taking responsibility for converting over 48 reels of 16mm of microfilm to create over 172,000 individually scanned images. The images were then split to create over 5,700 multipage PDF files.
 
The Medical Council of New Zealand is the organisation responsible for the registration of doctors practising within New Zealand. Its purpose is to ensure that medical practitioners are fit to practise and that they have met a certain standard of qualification.
 
In addition, it also promotes ongoing education and training of doctors and carries responsibilities in the areas of medical standards and doctors’ conduct and competence.
 
In 1990, when Medical Council needed to solve the problem of ever increasing numbers of paper files, it was decided to move the files for doctors no longer registered in NZ onto microfiche.  Over the years the microfiche has worn and became harder to read so in 2010 it was decided to digitise the records.
 
This is a filing system where only one person can scan and access a particular file at one time, and are often shared in a single location.
 
Initially this system worked but as the files began to build up and grow over the years, the Medical Council began to realise that an electronic document and records management system was necessary.
 
Mark Christiansen from the Medical Council, who worked alongside Desktop Imaging on the three month conversion project, says the service and professionalism of Desktop Imaging was unsurpassed. “Starting out the process seemed quite daunting, but from the moment Desktop Imaging came on board, the project ran seamlessly.”
 
Over the three months Desktop Imaging’s team set up, implemented and strengthened the scanning solution through the following activities:

• developing a scanning profile for the Medical Council specific films
• inspecting their microfilm collection for damage
• scanning films in greyscale to minimise re-scans and maximise quality of images,
• splitting images into multipage PDF files
• indexing files and delivered files and metadata to the Medical Council’s server

 
Stephen Beighton director of Desktop Imaging understands organisations’ reservations when considering alternative record management systems but says it worth the effort. 
 
“I’ve worked with a number of companies who thought converting their physical files would take too long and cost too much, but you would be surprised how effective digitisation can be.”

Mr Christiansen supports Mr Beighton’s sentiments exactly “I would urge companies both large and small to seriously consider digitising their information. It’s fast, effective and secure. An electronic document and records management system ensures you and your staff can access documents off-site safely. It has made the Medical Council’s day-to-day operations run a lot smoother.”