The simple definition of hero is one who shows great courage and is admired for achievements and noble qualities. We witnessed countless acts of heroism in April as first responders, runners, bystanders and providers responded to the Boston Marathon bombings.
Many times, we see heroism among healthcare providers—the surgeon who saves a life, the nurse who holds a dying patient’s hand and much more. But there are equally valuable ways to act heroically. Leadership is heroism’s predecessor.
On April 15, HealthImaging.com debuted a new weekly feature: The Big Question. Richard Duszak, MD, CEO, Harvey L. Neiman Health Policy Institute, and Becky Haines, senior director, American College of Radiology (ACR), dissected the Imaging 3.0 concept. The two-word answer?
Patient engagement. But true deployment of Imaging 3.0 requires embedding the model in radiology’s collective processes. It requires leadership and a willingness to tackle tough challenges. This issue demonstrates that imagers are up to the challenge.
Our cover story details how the radiation oncology profession might break out of the fee-for-service model and deliver value in a rapidly transforming and unmapped healthcare environment.
Other paths to practice leadership require a tech platform, such as the iPad. Check out “Radiology? There’s an App for That—The iPad & Imaging,” for some pointers on how to leverage Apple’s brainchild.
Meanwhile, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh has delivered substantial improvements in the pediatric imaging process via its kid-friendly Adventure Series imaging suites. I promise a veritable visual feast.
Amid the ongoing screening mammography uproar, practices across the country are grappling with a quieter problem: underuse among Hispanic, African-American and American-Indian women.
Richard L. Wahl, MD, director of nuclear medicine/PET at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, and colleagues took a different path to imaging leadership and developed the PET Response Criteria in Solid Tumors (PERCIST) with the ambitious goal of standardizing PET acquisition and nudging the hybrid modality toward its quantitative and therapeutic response potential.
Other roads to leadership are emerging. Traumatic brain injury has nabbed the spotlight in the last five years. Health Imaging peels back the layers and examines how imaging may help manage these patients.
And finally, the issue would not be complete without a reflection on the tragic events in Boston. Please check out newslink to learn more about how battlefield innovations helped save lives and the diverse roles for imaging in caring for the victims of the bombings.