The European Society of Radiology (ESR) and National Decision Support Company (NDSC) today officially launched ESR iGuide at the European Congress of Radiology 2015 in Vienna. The ESR iGuide is a clinical decision support (CDS) system enabling doctors to order medical imaging procedures for their patients based on the best available medical evidence.

‘We are thrilled to announce the launch of ESR iGuide as a tool to bring the quality of medical imaging services to a higher and more consistent level’, says incoming ESR President Prof. Lluís Donoso. "The ESR considers imaging referral guidelines essential to improve appropriateness in medical imaging, and CDS is the best way to make guidelines available in a user-friendly way. ESR iGuide provides referring physicians with recommendations based on the latest clinical evidence and gives patients confidence that every scan they undergo is medically justified."


Adds Michael Mardini, CEO of NDSC: "This is a tremendous opportunity to work alongside the ESR and provide a robust content delivery mechanism, capable of delivering European wide criteria while supporting country or site specific requirements. The medical expertise of the ESR together with our technical experience will create a more efficient way of selecting, ordering and monitoring radiological services, in turn improving the quality and safety of imaging services across Europe."


The ESC iGuide is part of the ESR’s overall strategy and commitment to improve quality and safety in medical imaging. The project was launched after an ESR-led European Commission tender study showed that existing guidelines are available in only 70 percent of European countries, and that their use in daily practice is minimal. In addition, the existing guidelines are only available as plain text and updated just every few years.


The new ESR iGuide offers a solution to these issues and not only provides up-to-date and scientifically valid guidance, updated regularly by an ESR expert team in cooperation with the American College of Radiology (ACR) but also an efficient, traceable and reliable way of selecting and ordering imaging exams in daily practice.  It is believed that the new iGuide will improve the clinical workflow and will benefit general practitioners and other specialists, radiologists, hospital managers and patients alike.


‘The content delivery mechanism integrates directly into electronic health records (EHR) or other IT platforms used by an institution and ensures that the correct guidelines and feedback are presented to referring physicians’ explains Mardini. "Our in depth experience in delivering this solution nationally within the United States will guide us as we implement across the European market".


In parallel to the development of ESR iGuide, the ESR and the ACR are also working to achieve a common vision to provide a global set of guidelines in the future.

The ESR iGuide will be distributed from late 2015. More information is available at www.ESRiGuide.org.


Source: European Society of Radiology

Image Credit: European Congress of Radiology

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Imaging, ESR, Radiology, ECR 2015, #ECR15 The European Society of Radiology (ESR) and National Decision Support Company (NDSC) today officially launched ESR iGuide at the European Congress of Rad...