Journal
EUROPEAN RADIOLOGY
Volume 31, Issue 10, Pages 7984-7991Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s00330-021-07906-w
Keywords
Medical imaging; Radiation protection; Referral guidelines; Child; Surveys and questionnaires
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The survey results indicate a lack of effective and widespread adoption of imaging referral guidelines, especially in children. Further efforts are needed to improve the uptake and awareness of referral guidelines.
Objectives Justification of medical exposures from medical imaging is fundamental to radiation protection. Referral guidelines are intended to help physicians decide when an imaging study is justified. For two decades, referral guidelines have been a legally binding requirement for European Union member states. Recently, the European Society of Radiology (ESR) developed iGuide tool, which provides evidence-based referral guidance for imaging inclusive of children. The aim of this survey was to assess the availability, use and familiarity of referral guidelines for medical imaging in children and knowledge about the availability of ESR iGuide among ESR member radiologists. Methods Over a 2-month period (15 September-15 November 2019), 33,257 ESR member radiologists were invited to respond to an anonymised web-based questionnaire, which consisted of 12 multiple-choice questions. Results In total, 2067/33,257 responses (6.3%) were received from 52 countries. A total of 1068 out of 2067 (51.7%) respondents were aware that imaging referral guidelines are a legal requirement. One thousand five (48.6%) of all respondents did not know whether dedicated guidelines for imaging in children were available, and only 653 (31.2%) were aware of the mainstays of the available guidelines. Similarly, just 746 (36.1%) of all respondents were aware of ESR iGuide availability and features. Conclusions The information gathered confirms that effective and widespread adoption of imaging referral guidelines is lacking, especially in children. Further work is required to improve uptake and awareness.
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