ECRI Institute and the Health Care Improvement Foundation, independent nonprofit organizations devoted to patient safety and quality, announced the results of a Philadelphia-area regional collaborative to reduce patient risks associated with excessive radiation from CT scans. ECRI Institute has ranked exposure hazards from radiation therapy and CT among its published list of Top 10 Technology Hazards for the past five years and has a strong interest in helping health care organizations focus on this pressing patient safety issue.
The overarching goals of the program were to make diagnostic CT scan radiation doses as low as reasonably achievable and encourage the participating facilities to actively record and monitor CT doses.
“We were pleased to see marked improvement by participating facilities in a number of significant areas including tracking radiation dose for each study, having action plans for managing excessive CT radiation dose, reducing repeat imaging studies, and increasing leadership engagement and support,” said program manager Patricia Neumann, a senior patient safety analyst at ECRI Institute.
Nearly 20 hospitals and imaging centers in the Philadelphia area participated in the one-year Partnership for Patient Care program launched by the Health Care Improvement Foundation and led by ECRI Institute from July 2011 to June 2012. The final report, available for free download, “CT Radiation Safety: Right Scan, Right Dose, Right Now,” provides an overview of the program and improvement results.
Participating facilities took a confidential survey to assess CT scanning services at the start of the program and again at the end to assess improvement. Some of the most notable improvements include the following:
• 87% improvement in tracking of CT radiation doses for each study
• 64% improvement in having an action plan in place for managing excessive CT radiation ?when it occurs
• 55% improvement in auditing of CT doses
