Multi-image viewer for multi-sourced images

1. One or more computer storage media devices storing computer-useable instructions that, when executed by one or more computing devices, cause the one or more computing devices to perform a method for displaying at least one DICOM and at least one non-DICOM healthcare image for a patient simultaneously, the method comprising:

from an electronic medical record, receiving a selection of more than one healthcare study for the patient sourced from different sources, the selection including DICOM and non-DICOM images wherein a DICOM image adheres to a DICOM standard, which includes file format definition, includes network communications protocol, and groups the DICOM healthcare image with a patient identification and other DICOM healthcare images of the patient, and wherein the at least one DICOM healthcare image and the at least one non-DICOM healthcare image cannot be viewed in a same viewer;

launching a viewer for selected studies;

determining a healthcare image type for the more than one healthcare study;

converting any DICOM healthcare images to Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) format to give a JPEG version of the DICOM images, wherein the JPEG format is a non-DICOM standard that does not follow the DICOM standard;

displaying non-DICOM images as native files and JPEG versions of the DICOM healthcare images without DICOM-wrapping from the more than one healthcare study side-by-side in the viewer;

retrieving one or more related images, the one or more related images being related to the selected DICOM healthcare images and non-DICOM images;

displaying the one or more related images in the viewer with the displayed non-DICOM images; and

if a user tries to zoom in on one or more of the DICOM healthcare images beyond the resolution of the JPEG version of the DICOM healthcare images, retrieving a DICOM version of the image and launching a separate DICOM viewer with specialty tools.

2. The computer storage media devices of claim 1 , wherein each study comprises one or more series.

3. The computer storage media devices of claim 2 , wherein each series comprises one or more images.

4. The computer storage media devices of claim 1 , further comprising providing a history for a patient.

5. The computer storage media devices of claim 4 , wherein providing a history comprises:

displaying other images associated with the more than one healthcare image; and

displaying additional information associated with the more than one healthcare image, the previous images, or a combination thereof.

6. The computer storage media devices of claim 5 , wherein the additional information comprises reports, studies, patient information from the electronic medical record, or a combination thereof.

7. The media of claim 6 , wherein the history is presented in a predefined order.

8. The computer storage media devices of claim 1 , further comprising accessing history of different studies and clinical images associated with the more than one healthcare image.

9. The computer storage media devices of claim 1 , further comprising retrieving thumbnails that represent each image associated with the more than one healthcare study.

10. A computer system for displaying at least one DICOM and at least one non-DICOM healthcare image for a patient simultaneously, the computer system comprising a processor coupled to a computer storage medium, the computer storage medium having stored thereon a plurality of computer software components executable by the processor, the computer software components comprising:

a selection component for receiving a selection of more than one healthcare study for the patient sourced from different sources, the selection including DICOM and non-DICOM images, wherein a DICOM image adheres to a DICOM standard, which includes file format definition, includes network communications protocol, and groups the DICOM healthcare image with a patient identification and other DICOM healthcare images of the patient, and wherein the at least one DICOM healthcare image and the at least one non-DICOM healthcare image cannot be viewed in a same viewer;

a viewer component for launching a viewer for the selected studies;

a determination component for determining a healthcare image type for the more than one healthcare study;

a conversion component for converting DICOM images to JPEG format to yield a JPEG version of the DICOM images, wherein the JPEG format is a non-DICOM standard that does not follow the DICOM standard; a display component for displaying the more than one healthcare image from the more than one healthcare study side-by-side in the viewer and in a non-DICOM format as native files and JPEG versions of the DICOM images without DICOM-wrapping;

a history component for displaying one or more additional images associated with the more than one healthcare image and for receiving a selection of at least image of the one or more additional images for side-by-side presentation in the viewer in the non-DICOM format;

a manipulation component for manipulating the healthcare image; and

a resolution component for retrieving, if a user tries to zoom in on one or more of the DICOM images beyond the resolution of the JPEG version of the DICOM images, a DICOM version of the image and launching a separate DICOM viewer with specialty tools.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the one or more additional images displayed by the history component are associated with a series corresponding to at least one of the selected studies.

12. The system of claim 10 , further comprising an information component for displaying additional information associated with the more than one healthcare image, previous images, or a combination thereof.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the additional information comprises patient identifying information, image related information, study related information, or a combination thereof.

14. A graphical user interface (GUI) embodied on one or more computer storage media and executable by a computing device having a graphical display, said GUI comprising:

a first display area on the graphical display for displaying a list of available multimedia files from more than one source for a patient;

a second display area on the graphical display for displaying selected multimedia files in a non-DICOM format as native files and JPEG versions of DICOM images without DICOM-wrapping, the selected multimedia files including DICOM and non-DICOM images, wherein a DICOM image adheres to a DICOM standard, which includes file format definition, includes network communications protocol, and groups the DICOM healthcare image with a patient identification and other DICOM healthcare images of the patient, and wherein the at least one DICOM healthcare image and the at least one non-DICOM healthcare image cannot be viewed in a same viewer, and wherein the non-DICOM format is a non-DICOM standard that does not follow the DICOM standard;

a third display area on the graphical display for displaying other images associated with the selected multimedia files;

a fourth display area on the graphical display for displaying additional information associated with the selected multimedia files;

a fifth display area on the graphical display for displaying tools used for manipulating the selected multimedia files; and

if the non-DICOM format of a DICOM image lacks sufficient resolution to manipulate the DICOM image according to user input, a separate DICOM viewer with specialty tools.

15. The graphical user interface of claim 14 , further comprising a sixth display area on the graphical display for displaying pathology reports corresponding to the selected multimedia files.

16. The computer storage media devices of claim 1 , wherein the selection of more than one healthcare study sourced from different sources is received at least in part via one or more links within a patient's electronic medical record.

17. The computer storage media devices of claim 1 , wherein the selection of more than one healthcare study sourced from different sources is received at least in part as a selection of a study from a timeline view.