Congress:
EuroSafe Imaging 2019
Keywords:
Action 1 - Guidelines, implementation policies, and Clinical Decision Support (ESR iGuide), Professional issues, Conventional radiography, Safety, Radiation safety, Education and training
Authors:
C. Poleschuk, J. Castelli, D. Koff
DOI:
10.26044/esi2019/ESI-0028
Conclusion and recommendations
Overall,
each global patient radiation safety initiative is unique in their priorities,
delivery,
and development; however,
they share key commonalities that have contributed to their independent success.
Each initiative aligns with the IAEA and WHO Bonn Call-for-Action,
although the degree of alignment appears to be dependent on their establishment timeline. Additionally,
many initiatives share similar implementation strategies,
outlined by their priorities,
campaign objectives,
and internal structure including governance.
A similar weakness outlined by each initiative was the current lack of patient engagement,
in addition to a lack of available financial and human resources.
Each initiative also has the opportunity to engage with more diverse stakeholders.
Threats to each initiative is geographically dependent with culture,
pollical,
financial,
and healthcare instabilities as main contributors.
By conducting independent SWOT analyses,
key factors that contributed to the success of each global patient radiation safety initiative were identified.
Recommendations to guide future initiative implementation include:
- Establishing clear internal structure and strong governance that includes wide representation from key stakeholders;
- Gaining financial resources and human resource support to sustain large-scale campaigns and programming;
- Developing goals and objectives that clearly align with the Bonn Call-for-Action and address local needs;
- Utilizing a variety of media to raise awareness and promote ionizing radiation in medical imaging education; and
- Obtaining experiential insight and resources from current global patient radiation safety initiative leaders.
It is our hope that these recommendations will be considered during the implementation of future patient radiation safety initiatives.