(Saturday, 4/7/2018)
Room: Foyer
Purpose: Quality control is an undervalued aspect in digital radiography imaging due to the large number of units that perform a sizable number of exams every year and the fast transition from screen-film to digital detection and display methods. Tracking this data can be difficult. Metrics such as exam repeat rate, reject rate, and exposure index are used by the imaging community to evaluate performance of the overall practice and the radiographic imaging equipment. The goal was to develop a methodology to collect, standardize, and analyze data to produce these metrics.
Methods: Each digital radiographic device is capable of exporting data for each exam performed within a given timeframe. Every month this data was collected and stored. Every three months the data was combined and processed using a software program which organizes the data, performs calculations, and standardizes the information so that it can be analyzed. The result is a large excel file which can then be used to create pivot tables to facilitate further data analysis.
Results: Data can be organized by patient age, exam type, exposure index, number of rejects, number of repeats, unit the exam was performed on, total number of exams, technologist who performed the exam, and total repeat/reject rate. A common application compares how individual x-ray units relate to one another for exposure index and repeat rejects rate for different exam types. This information identifies potential areas of improvement.
Conclusion: The results demonstrate a significant advancement for performing digital imaging quality control and properly identify areas of weakness and optimize time and effort spent in corrective actions. None of these areas would have been visible before. Technologist education and training has been implemented and has begun to result in lower radiation doses to patients, improvement in x-ray imaging practice, and improved image quality.
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