QI Project Summaries

Audit team: Jordan Garside, Karim Samji

Study focus: Evaluate what percentage of consent forms are completed by the radiologist.

Findings and next steps: Workflow adjustments are needed to ensure radiologists sign consent forms prior to putting on sterile gloves. This may involve direction from the technologists and strategic positioning of the consent pad and gloves.

Study focus: Evaluate the effectiveness of the liver triple screen MRI program offered at the Kaye Edmonton Clinic since July 2021 and characterize the patient population.

Findings and next steps: This study shows the effectiveness of the liver triple screen MRI for evaluating liver fat, iron and fibrosis in patients with chronic liver disease. This program had appropriate referrals from a wide range of referring clinicians. The current upgraded version of the liver triple screen MRI demonstrated a high technical success rate.

Audit team: Ryan Spychka, Shane Hoeber, Suki Dhillon

Study focus: Evaluate how often cervical facets are commented on in MRI reports of the cervical spine. 

Findings and next steps: Radiologists need to incorporate reporting of cervical facet joints into their reports when reading cervical MRI.

Audit team: Kamal Farhat (PGY-5 Resident), Amanda Lorenz (MRT)

Study focus: This audit aimed to determine whether portable radiographs are appropriately ordered at the Royal Alexandra Hospital (RAH), in accordance with accepted clinical criteria, and seeks to inform the ongoing development of new institutional guidelines.

Findings and next steps: High number of inappropriate requests for portable CXR. Results support the creation of established, clear ordering criteria; education to providers; and possibly integrating a decision-supporting tool into the EMR.

Audit team: Sunghan Jung (Resident), Erica Glantz (US technologist), Suki Dhillon

Study focus: This quality improvement project aims to assess hand hygiene practices in the RAH US department to inform strategies for enhancing compliance and reducing infection risk.

Findings and next steps: Repeat education and observation is required to achieve and maintain high compliance rates of appropriate hand hygiene practices.

Audit team: Micheal Waine (Resident), Lucy Jamieson, Andrew Dixon (Pediatric Radiologist), Bryan Dicken (Pediatric Emergency Physician), Simon Byrns (Pediatric General Surgeon) 

Study focus: The purpose of this initiative was to reduce unnecessary or inappropriate imaging for pediatric acute right lower quadrant pain.

Findings and next steps: The algorithm was useful in reducing CT rates for acute right lower quadrant pain. Similar imaging algorithms could be used in other contexts, for example, imaging sensorineural hearing loss or suspected mastoiditis.

Audit team: Annie Brewerton, Melissa Park, Rabeena Naeem, Christopher Fung

Study focus: Examining the success rate of NT scanning within select clinics across Edmonton.

Findings and next steps: Observed a marked increase in success between first and second attempts. Marked increase in success on reattempt is likely multifactorial – beyond the scope of this project. Follow-up data is pending and will be collected in six months.