A medical diagnostic imaging system (10) is coupled to a hospital network (14) to optimize a throughput of a scanner (24). The hospital network includes a hospital records database (18) and a plurality of hospital computers and remote means (20). A workstation (12) is coupled to the scanner (24) and the hospital network (14) and is used to control a scanning process. The workstation (12) includes a display (44), an applications database (52), which is configurable by a user, and an interface means (48) for displaying interactive user interface screens (46) on the display (44). The interface screens (46) allow the user to configure the applications database (52) and interactively control the scanning process.