Pledge for Imaging Facilities

The pledge below applies to all facilities.

Our imaging facility images wisely and thereby provides the following:

1. All imaging professionals have taken the Pledge for Imaging Professionals.
2. All radiologists and technologists performing exams using ionizing radiation have an understanding of the radiation exposure so they may advise patients, families and other caregivers on the benefits and potential risks of the study.
3. Radiation doses are optimized to levels assuring that only the necessary amounts of radiation are used to produce images tailored to patient size and the diagnostic task.
4. We review and incorporate as appropriate currently available recommendations for imaging techniques and protocols using American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), American College of Radiology (ACR) and vendor recommendations.
5. Whenever possible, dose reduction methodologies (e.g., automatic exposure control, vendor supplied programs, attention to multiphase appropriateness, shielding, etc.) are employed to minimize patient exposure.
6. We attempt to prevent duplication of exams by providing the capacity to load outside exams into our Picture Archiving System (PACs).
7. Our radiology practice is consultative in nature and provides ongoing education to referring practitioners on the benefits and potential risks of imaging with ionizing radiation.
8. We manually or electronically monitor dose indices for common examinations, compare these indices with established benchmarks (Diagnostic Reference Levels), and evaluate outliers on a timely basis to prevent unnecessary exposure to patients or images with insufficient diagnostic information.
9. Our imaging facility participates in a dose index registry (local, regional or national) that includes routine evaluation of examination performance and dose indices.
10. Our imaging facility has earned accreditation from an organization that directly evaluates the following radiation-related attributes:
    • Radiation dose indices and compliance with accreditation pass/fail thresholds
    • Clinical image quality (peer-reviewed by an external, qualified interpreting physician)
    • Phantom image quality (peer-reviewed by an external, qualified medical physicist)
    • Personnel (qualifications set by the accrediting organization)

After you submit your pledge, look for the Image Wisely confirmation email containing a link to your pledge certificate. Check your spam folder if you don't receive the email.