Image Wisely® Develops New Radiation Safety Education Tool for Imaging Professionals
Reston, Va. (Sept. 19. 2013) — Image Wisely® recently launched its first Image Wisely Radiation Safety Case — a series of free, online and mobile-compatible educational offerings, developed with the assistance of the American College of Radiology, that allow radiologists, imaging technologists and medical physicists to assess their own understanding of important radiation safety concepts such as radiation dose monitoring and optimization. The first case, CT Dose and Size-Specific Dose Estimate (SSDE), offers a total of 0.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™; .5 MPCEC credit by the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Physics Education Programs, Inc.; and 0.5 Category A credit hours of the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists.
“Radiation is an important tool in the diagnosis and treatment of many diseases. We developed the first Image Wisely Radiation Safety Case to help imaging providers understand that the dose indices currently displayed on CT scanners (CTDIvol and DLP) are not patient dose but are the dose to a standard phantom. To understand the dose to the patient better the Size Specific Dose Estimate (SSDE) has been developed,” said Donald Peck, PhD, co-author of the first Image Wisely Radiation Safety Case.
A total of six radiation safety cases will be presented throughout the year. Case content includes embedded questions that provide expert feedback as well as references and resources for further study. Continuing education credit for radiologists, imaging technologists and medical physicists is available. However, participants must successfully complete a brief post-instruction quiz and evaluation survey to receive credit.
“The Image Wisely Radiation Safety Case is unique in that it provides an opportunity for imaging professionals to expand their knowledge on important radiation safety topics, reduce radiation dose to patients (and themselves) and earn continuing education credits. The Image Wisely coalition is excited to offer this new opportunity to the radiology community and encourages everyone to participate and help spread the word,” said Richard L. Morin, PhD, FACR, co-chair of Image Wisely.
Image Wisely is an initiative of the American College of Radiology, the Radiological Society of North America, the American Association of Physicists in Medicine and the American Society of Radiologic Technologists with the objective of lowering the amount of radiation used in medically necessary imaging studies and eliminating unnecessary procedures. Image Wisely offers resources and information to radiologists, medical physicists, other imaging practitioners and patients.