Diagnostic imaging: Doing the right thing.
Mendelson, R.M. (2020), Diagnostic imaging: Doing the right thing. J Med Imaging Radiat Oncol. doi:10.1111/1754-9485.13004
Inappropriate diagnostic imaging (DI) is a burgeoning issue and embraces its overuse and its misapplication. The obverse problem is one of underuse – that is when patients who should undergo imaging fail to do so. This article attempts to define these problems, examines the causes and effects and suggests some potential solutions.
Inappropriate diagnostic imaging may be categorised as overuse (lack of justification), underuse or wrong choices (misapplication) of imaging. There are multiple and complex causes related to all parties responsible – referrer, provider and patient. Its detrimental effects include suboptimal use of limited resources and risks to patients without benefit. The potential solutions to the problem are also multifaceted and include education of referrers and patients, enhanced performance of radiologists in their roles as consultants and gatekeepers, availability and encouragement of the use of imaging referral guidelines (preferably with seamless integration into electronic requesting) and innovative systems of radiologists’ remuneration that depart from the fee‐for‐service model.
-
Slider photo by Govind Bhagavatheeshwaran, Daniel Reich, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health