Quality Improvement and Confirmation Projects: Facilitating Rapid, Measurable Performance Improvement.

As radiology departments continue to increase in size and complexity, the process of improving and maintaining excellent performance is becoming increasingly challenging. In response, a systematic process for efficiently implementing and sustaining measurable improvement in our radiology department has been developed, which targets focused aspects of individual performance that contribute to overall departmental quality. Projects designed to achieve such improvements have been called quality improvement and confirmation (QuIC) projects.

Practice policy and quality initiatives quality improvement and confirmation projects: facilitating rapid, measurable performance improvement.

As radiology departments continue to increase in size and complexity, the process of improving and maintaining excellent performance is becoming increasingly challenging. In response, a systematic process for efficiently implementing and sustaining measurable improvement in our radiology department has been developed, which targets focused aspects of individual performance that contribute to overall departmental quality. Projects designed to achieve such improvements have been called quality improvement and confirmation (QuIC) projects.

Comparison of radiation dose estimates and scan performance in pediatric high-resolution thoracic CT for volumetric 320-detector row, helical 64-detector row, and noncontiguous axial scan acquisitions.

Rationale And Objectives: Efforts to decrease radiation exposure during pediatric high-resolution thoracic computed tomography (HRCT), while maintaining diagnostic image quality, are imperative. The objective of this investigation was to compare organ doses and scan performance for pediatric HRCT using volume, helical, and noncontiguous axial acquisitions.

Materials And Methods: Thoracic organ doses were measured using 20 metal oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor dosimeters.

Comparison of radiation dose estimates, image noise, and scan duration in pediatric body imaging for volumetric and helical modes on 320-detector CT and helical mode on 64-detector CT.

Background: Advanced multidetector CT systems facilitate volumetric image acquisition, which offers theoretic dose savings over helical acquisition with shorter scan times.

Objective: Compare effective dose (ED), scan duration and image noise using 320- and 64-detector CT scanners in various acquisition modes for clinical chest, abdomen and pelvis protocols.

Materials And Methods: ED and scan durations were determined for 64-detector helical, 160-detector helical and volume modes under chest, abdomen and pelvis protocols on 320-detector CT with adaptive collimation and 64-detector helical mode on 64-detector CT without adaptive collimation in a phantom representing a 5-year-old child.

Radiation dose estimation for prospective and retrospective ECG-gated cardiac CT angiography in infants and small children using a 320-MDCT volume scanner.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to determine patient dose estimates for clinical pediatric cardiac-gated CT angiography (CTA) protocols on a 320-MDCT volume scanner.

Materials And Methods: Organ doses were measured using 20 metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) dosimeters. Radiation dose was estimated for volumetrically acquired clinical pediatric prospectively and retrospectively ECG-gated cardiac CTA protocols in 5-year-old and 1-year-old anthropomorphic phantoms on a 320-MDCT scanner.