Good, Better and Best Practices

My column in this month’s ACR Bulletin focuses on how collaborating with others on best practices can lead to quality improvement and overall patient satisfaction. Focusing on improvement doesn’t necessarily mean that your practice is sub-par or not meeting certain standards of care; it simply means that we as physicians recognize that in this ever-changing health care arena, there are bound to be new ideas or solutions for things we do every day.

This being said, I’d like to hear what best practices you’ve adopted and made part of your daily routine. How did you identify the need for a change? What has worked and what hasn’t? Perhaps it was as simple as providing patients with educational materials before an exam. Or, maybe you invested in new imaging equipment, or learned a cutting-edge technique. Feel free to leave details in the comments section to share with other members.

I’m looking forward to your responses. And, be sure to read the articles in this month’s Bulletin for more ideas, tips, and testimonials from your colleagues on implementing best practices.

Comments

[Steven Gunberg]

I have been involved with CCTA for about 10 years now. We have recently set-up a collaborative reading system with the cardiologists at one of our hospitals. This arose out of obvious "external pressures" including economic and political pressures which have been long standing with cardiology. So far both cardiologists and radiologists seem to be benefiting from this adventure. The collaborative part includes both reviewing the study together at a set time during the day. The study is not finalized until both the radiologist and cardiologist agree on the Findings/Impression! In the long run we feel that the patient will ultimately benefit from this collaboration. The study is at present dictated by the radiologist. This has improved our relationship with the cardiologists and has opened the door to further collaboration. There is more to this, including a "white paper" presented to the hospitals MEC to help them understand the role of a radiologist in what we called "Intrinsic Quality Assurance".