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Improving patient safety in radiology: a work in progress

  • ALARA: BUILDING BRIDGES BETWEEN RADIOLOGY AND EMERGENCY MEDICINE
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Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to share the experiences, including successes and failures, as well as the ongoing process of developing and implementing a safety program in a large pediatric radiology department. Building a multidisciplinary pediatric radiology safety team requires successful recruitment of team members, selection of a team leader, and proper and ongoing training and tools, and protected time. Challenges, including thorough examples, are presented on improving pediatric radiology safety intradepartmentally, interdepartmentally, and institutionally. Finally, some major challenges to improving safety in pediatric radiology, and healthcare in general, are presented along with strategies to overcome these challenges. Our safety program is a work in progress; this article is a personal account and the reader is asked for tolerance of its occasional subjective tone and contents.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Diagnostic Imaging and Radiology, Children’s National Medical Center, 111 Michigan Avenue, NW, Washington, DC, 20010-2970, USA

    Raymond W. Sze

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  1. Raymond W. Sze
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Correspondence to Raymond W. Sze.

Additional information

Dr. Sze has no relevant financial relationships or potential conflicts of interest related to the material presented.

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Sze, R.W. Improving patient safety in radiology: a work in progress. Pediatr Radiol 38 (Suppl 4), 693–699 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00247-008-0963-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00247-008-0963-1

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