Mayo Clinic, other institutions call for standardization of safe imaging protocols for children

The Mayo Clinic is leading a collaborative effort to spur a national protocol to help prevent the overuse and misuse of imaging in children.

In a collaborative editorial published online in the Journal of Patient Safety, lead author Stephen Swensen, MD, of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and colleagues from academic centers across the country asked the American College of Radiology, the Joint Commission, the Intersociety Accreditation Commission, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to require three safety practices for accreditation of all hospitals and advanced diagnostic imaging facilities.

The three practices aim to help ensure children receive “the right exam, ordered the right way, with the right radiation dose.” This includes:

·         Use of the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network Clinical Prediction Rule for minor head trauma imaging;

·         Protocols to reduce dual-phase head and chest CT imaging; and

·         Use of size-specific pediatric CT imaging protocols.

“We have the knowledge and the tools today that can substantially improve the safety and quality of care for our children (while also decreasing costs),” said Swensen in a press release.