Editing DICOM (section)

=== Modality worklist ===
The DICOM modality worklist service provides a list of imaging procedures that have been scheduled for performance by an image acquisition device (sometimes referred to as a modality system).  The items in the worklist include relevant details about the subject of the procedure (patient ID, name, sex, and age), the type of procedure (equipment type, procedure description, procedure code) and the procedure order (referring physician, [[Accession number (bioinformatics)|accession number]], reason for exam). An image acquisition device, such as a CT scanner, queries a service provider, such as a [[Radiological information system|RIS]], to get this information which is then presented to the system operator and is used by the imaging device to populate details in the image metadata.

Prior to the use of the DICOM modality worklist service, the scanner operator was required to manually enter all the relevant details. Manual entry is slower and introduces the risk of misspelled patient names, and other data entry errors.