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Danish Project Wins First TMC Radiology Quality Award

A group from the Diagnostic Centre, University Clinic of Innovative Patient Pathways at the Regional Hospital Silkeborg in Denmark has won the inaugural TMC Radiology Quality Award with their project on Plastic Organic Groups. This is a work method for fast quality improvements in daily clinical work, which they used to focus on the possibilities of improving quality in patient pathways. The winners received a Diploma and €10,000, which they will donate for further research in the Radiology Department.

The TMC Radiology Quality Award was set up by Telemedicine Clinic for professionals, individuals or groups from European radiology departments that have implemented systems, methods or processes with a demonstrated positive quality impact. The projects were judged by a distinguished international jury.

“Having the opportunity to work with close to 100 radiology departments in several European countries, we frequently come across a number of good examples of initiatives to improve quality. We believe solid solutions for quality assurance and improvement within radiology is very important and by introducing this unique award we hope to encourage more such initiatives," said Dr Hans Billing, Medical Director at Telemedicine Clinic.

In their winning submission, the Danish team noted that radiology departments are uniquely placed for taking leadership in developing innovative solutions bridging medical specialities. Their project set out to improve clinical challenges, including diagnosis of minor stroke. At the outset they met national standards for diagnosis o f m inor s troke i n o nly 70% o f c ases. Two weeks after the first meeting national standards were met for 90% of patients, and after four weeks waiting time was reduced fourfold. After six weeks diagnostic methods had completely changed, and all patients below 60 years of age were diagnosed using MRI. Other changes included using carotid CTA instead of ultrasound and reorganisation, which enabled diagnosis to take place in one day.

The winning group was presented with their prize at the European Congress of Radiology in Vienna in March.

Image.

Back row (L-R), Lluis Donoso Bach (Spain), Jarl Jakobsen (Norway), Peter Mildenberger (Germany) and Iain McCall (UK) from the international jury. The jur y also included Peter Aspelin (Sweden), Elisabeth Schouman-Claeys (France) and Emanuele Neri (Italy).

Front row (L-R) Annette Meyer Balle, Rikke Aarhus, Agnete Hedemann Nielsen, Susanne Skovlund Petersen from the winning group with Hans Billing, Medical Director, Telemedicine Clinic.

Further Reading: Nielsen AH, Balle AM, Petersen SS, Aarhus R (2013) The radiology department as partner in bridging the knowing-doing gap: how can leadership enourage radiologists, secretaries, radiographers, clinicians, and nurses to develop innovative patient pathways? HealthManagement 13(3): 50-1. Available at: https://healthmanagement.org/c/healthmanagement/issuearticle/the-radiology-department-as-partner-in-bridging-the-knowing-doing-gap