Dear Digital X-Ray Insider,
A new study of near-miss events in radiology -- close calls that almost impacted patient care -- found that portable chest x-ray was by far the source of most errors.
Researchers from Emory University performed an analysis of close calls at their facility over four years, reviewing more than 1.7 million imaging exams. Their goal was to learn more about the underlying issues in radiology that contribute to near-miss events, which frequently go unreported.
Among all imaging modalities, portable chest x-ray made up more than half of the events, most likely due to the challenges of keeping track of imaging plates and patients as portable units make their way around the hospital.
Fortunately, radiology's conversion to portable systems based on digital radiography is making it easier to avoid near-miss events, but the researchers believe more can be done to make radiology as error-free as possible. Find out how in our Insider Exclusive, an article you have access to before the rest of our readers.
In other news, researchers from the U.S. and the Middle East have found that a simple method of scoring pathology on lung radiographs can be used to predict which patients are at risk of dying from Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS).
The researchers studied a group of 55 patients being treated for MERS in a hospital in Saudi Arabia, and they linked the appearance of the disease on x-ray to the eventual clinical course of the patients. They found certain hallmarks of pathology that signaled a worse prognosis and developed a scoring system for predicting mortality. Find out how it works by clicking here.
Also, be sure to read about the x-ray technologist who was sentenced to a year in federal prison for his role in a healthcare fraud scheme as part of an imaging business he ran. Authorities charged him with allowing unlicensed staff to acquire imaging exams, and then falsifying documents on who performed the studies.
Did you know there's a new museum that highlights the radiologic technologist profession? Be sure to stop by and check out the space the next time you're in the neighborhood of Albuquerque, NM, where the museum opened earlier this month at the headquarters of the American Society of Radiologic Technologists.
Click on the links below for the rest of the news in the Digital X-Ray Community, and be sure to let me know if you have any story ideas in mind.
