Quality

The focus of quality improvement in healthcare is to bolster performance and processes related to diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. Leaders in this space also ensure the proper selection of imaging exams and procedures, and monitor the safety of services, among other duties. Reimbursement programs such as the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) utilize financial incentives to improve quality. This also includes setting and maintaining care quality initiatives, such as the requirements set by the Joint Commission.

Radiologists are stretched thin—and it’s affecting the next generation's education

Radiology education has made substantial progress since its debut in the medical sphere, but students and faculty alike continue to suffer from communication barriers, high burnout risks and a lack of defined roles in the classroom, a group of administrators wrote in a compiled advice column for the Journal of the American College of Radiology.

Thumbnail

‘We beat the empathy out of them’: 5 tips for training a generation of radiologists to avoid burnout

In an era where half of U.S. physicians are, in some way, professionally burned out, medical program directors and administrators are looking for ways to prevent the current generation of medical students from meeting a similar fate—and they’re finding the problem might be rooted in education.

Thumbnail

How radiologists can improve image quality with dual-energy CT

Dual-energy computed tomography (DECT) is growing in popularity as a higher-quality alternative to single-energy CT, but, as a pair of researchers wrote in the current edition of Radiologic Clinics in North America, the method has a long way to go.

Thumbnail

Are orbit shields in CT perfusion worth the reduced radiation dose?

Though designed to reduce radiation exposure during CT perfusion, orbit shields can cause more harm than good to neuroradiology patients, Swiss researchers reported this week. The shields, meant to be preventive, could be rendering whole brain scans diagnostically useless.

Thumbnail

Safety checklists can help radiologists provide better care during severe contrast reactions

Using a contrast reaction management checklist reduces the number of mistakes radiologists make during simulated severe contrast reactions, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Roentgenology.

Radiologists can reduce ABUS interpretation time by using concurrent-read CAD system

Use of a concurrent-read computer-aided detection (CAD) system when interpreting automated breast ultrasound (ABUS) examinations helps improve efficiency without negatively affecting accuracy, according to a new study published by the American Journal of Roentgenology.

Defining—and dealing with—radiology’s personality problem

Cultivating physician character in an increasingly tech-centered environment can be difficult for radiologists who are often isolated in their work, but in a medical landscape where quality patient care is key, imagers may need to venture outside of their comfort zone, a trio of Emory University radiologists wrote in Academic Radiology this May.

Thumbnail

Researchers demonstrate the power of personalizing lung cancer screening decisions for each patient

A group of researchers from the University of Michigan and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has found that clinicians can improve patient communication and potentially increase lung cancer screening program participation by personalizing the decision-making process.