Current Clinical Concerns in CT: Results : Physician Training
Assessment of physician competency
1. My group would like to start doing virtual colonoscopy, but the hospital where we practice is asking us if we have met the required guidelines to do it. Our response to the hospital was that the radiologist who will be reading the cases would have to attend dedicated virtual colonoscopy courses. Could you please let us know if there are any specific guidelines or requirements that need to be met? ACR does not have anything specific to virtual colonoscopy.
| Answer: At this time there are no set guidelines. Attending a dedicated course is a good start. One way of making your hospital happy might be to get someone to overread your first 10 cases to confirm that they are done correctly and read correctly. |
2. Our angiographers are in a losing turf battle for peripheral angiography. They cardiologists were able to water down the standards so that almost any cardiologist could do peripheral work, with little peripheral experience, and no thrombolytic experience. Our thought is to set high standards right off the bat before others are interested. We don't want to make the same mistake twice.
Answer: I wish you luck; let me know how it is going. If you want, I would be happy to look at the standards and give you some input. For example:
|
3. We will be getting a 16 slice MDCT soon and hope to do vascular work. Our group is considering setting credentialing standards for the group, and more importantly for all physicians from other specialties who might want to read studies on their patients. What do you think, and do you have any suggestions?
| Answer: Seems like it is more danger than you might think. Credentialing may in fact work against you in cardiac work, for example. What benefit will credentialing standards get you? Let me hear your ideas. The ACR is presently developing standards for this, which should be released in late 2004 or early 2005. |