This year’s ECR programme features another great selection of sessions aimed at radiographers. ECR Today spoke to Jonathan McNulty, co-chairman of the ECR 2014 radiographers subcommittee, and Prof. Graciano Paulo, president of the European Federation of Radiographer Societies (EFRS), for their views on the sessions taking place on Saturday.

EFRS meets Russia
The role of the radiographer in image acquisition and processing
Watch it on ECR Live: Saturday, March 8, 14:00–15:30, Room B
Tweet #ECR2014B #EM5

Graciano Paulo: According to the agreement between the ESR and the EFRS, the EFRS will hold its own ‘Meets’ session at each ECR with the radiographers association from the home country of the ECR president. Last year we met the radiographers from Spain, which was a great success. This year is a really interesting situation, because Russia is not a member of the EFRS, as it does not fall within the definition of Europe in our statutes. So I would like to take this opportunity to thank the ECR Congress President, Prof. Valentin Sinitsyn for this chance to build a bridge between the EFRS and Russian radiographers. It will be a great opportunity for us to understand the nature of the profession in Russia and a rare occasion to hear from our Russian colleagues. It will also give them the chance to show us, with the four topics they have chosen, what the role of the radiographer is in imaging acquisition and processing in Russia.

Jonathan McNulty: I personally find this a really exciting session because the EFRS are trying to strengthen their links with the huge population of radiographers working in Russia. There are a lot of countries who are well established at the ECR in terms of the numbers of radiographers who attend, but Russia is not traditionally one of them. So I am very excited to find out more about radiography in Russia and to hear from my peers about what they are doing in research and education. It really promises to open the doors to the Russian radiography community and showcase some of what they are doing to the rest of Europe.

RC 1114: Evidence-based practice in medical imaging: a tool to improve the quality of care
Watch it on ECR Live: Saturday, March 8, 16:00–17:30, room BRA
Tweet #ECR2014BRA #RC1114

Graciano Paulo: It is important to understand that the best way to improve the way we deliver healthcare is through evidence-based practice. We need to look at what we do on a daily basis; assess it, publish it, and adapt our practices according to that analysis. We need to fully understand the full workflow, from the referral of the patient for an imaging examination, to the end of the delivery of that exam, and our own roles and responsibilities in that context, to protect the patient. When problems occur, we have to identify where the problems are and adapt our work in a way that helps us to avoid those problems in the future.

We are human, and there is no such thing as a department that makes no errors, but the best medical imaging department is the one that makes the fewest errors. That usually is the result of making a critical analysis of the whole workflow, the justification process and the technical optimisation, and this is only possible through an evidence-based approach. So this is a very important session. We are going to look, not just at what evidence-based practice is and how it works in theory, but also at how our audience can start putting it into practice and potentially improve the quality of care in their own institutions.

Jonathan McNulty: Evidence-based practice is by no means unique to radiography or medical imaging. Across healthcare, every decision we make in the clinical environment should be based on the evidence that shows us what the best options are in terms of patient care and patient management. One of the key things about radiographers is that we are the people who best understand the equipment we use to acquire the images. In order to get the highest possible image quality from it and from the patient, we need to really understand the technology and be able to modify our techniques to get the most out of it. The first talk in this session will demonstrate that the radiographer is the interface between the patient and the technology, and that we can add value in that role. We are the people who meet the patient and can tease out further clinical information from the patient and potentially go on and improve the image quality and get a better examination.

The session also covers justification and optimisation, which are of course at the heart of medical imaging. We will review and consolidate the various approaches we can take to justification and look at some of the current techniques in optimisation with some international recommendations and perspectives. The final part is going to bring together some of the conclusions from the other two and show how to implement these ideas. In other words, what steps you need to consider in introducing evidence-based approaches and making changes in your department to improve patient care, service delivery and image quality, but on an evidence-based footing.

EFRS Meets Russia
Saturday, March 8, 14:00–15:30, Room B
EM 5: The role of the radiographer in image acquisition and processing
Presiding:
S. Geers-van Gemeren; Utrecht/NL
S. Mamedova; Moscow/RU
» Introduction
S. Geers-van Gemeren; Utrecht/NL
S. Mamedova; Moscow/RU
» MRI safety: the radiographers’ role
V. Labutin; Chelyabinsk/RU
» Contribution of radiographer to success of coronary MDCT
E. Hichina; Moscow/RU
» Interlude: Russian art and culture
I. Arkhipova; Moscow/RU
» Cardiac MDCT in children with congenital heart diseases
V. Bereznitskiy; Moscow/RU
» MDCT in polytrauma patients: the radiographers’ role
E. Iasakova; Krasnodar/RU
» Panel discussion:
The radiographers’ role in image acquisition and processing

Refresher Course
Saturday, March 8, 16:00–17:30, Board Room A
RC 1114: Evidence-based practice in medical imaging: a tool to improve the quality of care
Moderators:
C.J. Herold; Vienna/AT
D. Katsifarakis; Athens/GR
A. The radiographer as the interface between patient and technology: clinical judgement and professional accountability
G. Paulo; Coimbra/PT
B. Justification and optimisation in medical imaging
J. Santos; Coimbra/PT
C. Service development through evidence-based approaches
E. Metsala; Helsinki/FI

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