ECRI Institute and the Health Care Improvement Foundation, independent nonprofit organizations devoted to patient safety and quality, announced last week significant improvements in the risk of CT radiation exposure among Philadelphia-area facilities. The findings were part of a survey organized by a regional collaborative to reduce patient risks associated with excessive radiation from CT scans.
Exposure hazards from radiation therapy and CT have been among ECRI’s list of Top 10 Technology Hazards for the past five years. The organization has placed an emphasis on helping healthcare organizations address this pressing safety issue.
Notable improvements among the facilities in the survey included an 87% improvement in tracking of CT radiation doses for each study, a 64% increase in the number of facilities with action plans in managing excessive CT radiation, and a 55% increase in the auditing of CT doses.
“We were pleased to see marked improvement by participating facilities in a number of significant areas including tracking radiation dose for each study, having action plans for managing excessive CT radiation dose, reducing repeat imaging studies, and increasing leadership engagement and support,” says program manager Patricia Neumann, a senior patient safety analyst at ECRI Institute.
For more information on the survey results, read the ECRI press release.
