Image Wisely Cases Test Rads’ Safety Knowledge

Image Wisely recently launched its second of six radiation safety cases designed for radiologists, imaging technologists and medical physicists to test their understanding of important radiation safety concepts.

The second case, Dose Management in Endovascular Image-Guided Neuro-Interventions, is a free, online and mobile-compatible offering that imaging professionals can complete to earn continuing medical education credit.

Experts from 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 have teamed up to create Image Wisely in an effort to provide a mechanism for individuals to assess their knowledge of important concepts such as radiation dose monitoring and optimization.

 “It is well known that at high radiation exposures damage to tissue occurs and there is a risk for cancer induction, but the radiation exposures where these effects have been documented are much higher than the exposures a patient would receive in most imaging procedures,” explained Donald Peck, PhD, FACR, FAAPM, member of the Image Wisely Executive Committee. “Therefore, it is unknown whether there is a risk for radiation induced cancer from imaging exposures.”

This team of experts has worked to determine the lowest exposure that can be used during imaging procedures while still obtaining a high quality image. Together, they have an understanding of the physics of the imaging systems, the anatomy and physiology of the organs relative to the imaging systems capabilities, and the patient’s clinical needs.

Image Wisely plans to release six radiation safety cases throughout the year. Each case will include embedded questions that provide expert feedback as well as references and resources for further study.

“Each case covers a different topic and the learning objectives are provided at the beginning of the case so the participant can determine if the case is relevant to their areas of interest,” Peck said. “The cases are developed and presented in a manner that allows the participant to learn about the concepts and then test their knowledge.” 

Upon successful completion of a post-instruction quiz and evaluation survey, professionals can earn continuing medical education credit. The educational materials offer a total of 0.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits, 0.5 MPCEC credit by the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Physics Education Programs, Inc., and 0.5 Category A credit hours of the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists. To access the second Image Wisely Radiation Safety Case, visit imagewisely.org/Case.

The first case in the series, CT Dose and Size-Specific Dose Estimate (SSDE), was released in September.