New Image Wisely® Radiation Safety Case, Now Available

Reston, Va. (Jan. 13, 2013) — Image Wisely® recently launched its second 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 second case, Dose Management in Endovascular Image-Guided Neuro-Interventions, 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 0.5Category A credit hours of the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists.   

“While interventionalists are focused on treating the patient, they must remain conscious of the dose that the patient is receiving and understand how they can reduce the radiation delivered without compromising the outcome of the procedure. The basic principles and methods described in this radiation safety case, such as dose spreading and use of collimation, are applicable to most interventional vascular procedures and can be effective in reducing the peak skin dose as well as stochastic risk,” said Daniel Bednarek, Ph.D., co-author of the second Image Wisely Radiation Safety Case.  

A total of six radiation safety cases are 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.

“Radiation is an important tool in the diagnosis and treatment of many diseases. However, interventionalists, like all other imaging providers, must be made aware of methods available to limit the dose to the patient. All imaging professionals are encouraged to complete the Image Wisely Radiation Safety Cases, which will help expand their knowledge on important radiation safety topics, reduce radiation dose to patients (and themselves) and earn continuing education credits,” said Donald Peck, Ph.D., co-author of the first Image Wisely Radiation Safety Case and member of the Image Wisely Executive Committee.   

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.

To access the second Image Wisely Radiation Safety Case, visit imagewisely.org/Case. 

For additional information about Image Wisely, visit imagewisely.org/.

To speak with an Image Wisely spokesperson, contact Heather Williams at 703-390-9822 orPR@acr.org.