Comprehensive Quality Management In Medical Imaging
In modern medicine, medical imaging enables accurate diagnoses to be made faster, less invasively, and more cost effectively than ever before. An accurate diagnosis is the foundation upon which any appropriate medical treatment is based. Because of the vital role that diagnostic imaging has in determining an appropriate course of treatment, consistent quality in these services is imperative.
In its report entitled “To Err is Human; Building a Safer Health System,” the Institute of Medicine (IOM) asserts that medical errors are responsible for thousands of deaths and billions of dollars in lost productivity each year in the US. In response to the IOM report, the American Society of Radiologic Technologists submitted a written testimony to Congress in February of 2000 stating:
“According to the IOM report, 17 percent of preventable medical errors are errors in diagnosis. The American Society of Radiologic Technologists believes that a significant number of these diagnostic errors may be attributed to poorly performed medical imaging examinations.”
QAISys® (Q-A-I-Sys) stands for Quality Assessment and Improvement System. It denotes a process that facilitates comprehensive quality management for medical imaging. It effectively enables authoritative review of 100% of imaging exams and considers image quality deficiencies of all kinds for all modalities. The system bridges communication gaps between radiologists, technologists, and managers. It empowers management to assess and track image quality for each individual technologist and for entire departments by modality, location, shift, exam-type etc. It enables in-depth analysis of the nature and cause of recurrent quality failures, specifies exam-types that should be targeted for improvement, and then indicates practical, cost-effective solutions for improving image quality. (see QAISys - Comprehensive Quality Management in Medical Imaging or QAISys Concepts Video Presentation)
The QAISys® process combines good medical practice with sound business principles. We believe that patients, providers, and purchasers all have a vested interest in seeing its broad implementation. QAISys, Inc. is dedicated to developing tools for implementing the QAISys® process and to promoting effective use of the information it provides. Currently:
· We have developed a stand-alone software application that effectively enables full implementation. This application serves as a prototype of the web-based application that will receive both automated and manual data inputs. We are using it to build case studies that demonstrate the value of the information provided through the QAISys® process.
· We are developing a web-based system that will: employ all of the functionality of the stand-alone application for manual data inputs and management, receive data directly from radiology information systems in XML format so that data inputs can be fully automated, and embody the Global Data Center concept in its entirety. It will collect exam data and produce ratings on a global scale. These global ratings will be used to provide dynamic benchmarks that will help organizations to establish appropriate quality goals and standards. Additionally, this application will facilitate the QRw Trending concept for tracking quality and will feature a robust data analysis interface. (see QMS)
The global data that we collect will be available to assist leaders and organizations in the medical imaging profession to identify and prioritize areas in which to lead efforts at quality improvement. The medical imaging technologies industry will also be able to analyze the data to compare equipment quality outputs in order to identify areas where applied technologies might be able to help improve image quality.