FAQs

Significant misunderstanding regarding radiation and risk of medical imaging and image guided procedures exists among the public, patents and their caregivers, and medical professionals. Quality sources have webpages dedicated to answering many of the most frequent questions regarding these topics; however, these pages may be difficult to find and are not networked thus limiting efficient and effective access to the information. We wish to create a comprehensive compendium of existing resources with information related to radiation use and other elements including potential risks of many of the imaging studies that depend on ionizing radiation. This compendium would serve as a reliable resource that physicians and other healthcare providers and medical personnel could provide to their patients who seek radiation safety information.

Inclusion Criteria for Sources:
1. Webpages are in the public domain.
2. Information is in English.
3. Webpages must include information regarding the safety or risk of imaging procedures.
4. Information is from an established society/organization that has presence in clinically relevant medicine or medical science.
5. The organization is regional, national, or international. For example, organizations that serve as resources of medical knowledge such as professional societies, federal regulatory/accreditation agencies, health authorities, etc. This excludes websites owned by individuals, individual hospitals or practices, or other local organizations. We recognize that there may be many organizations with quality FAQ pages related to radiation safety that are excluded by this criterion.
6. Webpage must be in a question and answer format. An exception may be made to this criterion if the section headings could be reasonably altered to be in a question format and the resource provides significant value to the compendium. For example, the FDA pages meet such exception.

Method:
Using search terms such as “radiation safety”, “FAQ”, and “medical”, over 150 domains were browsed for FAQ pages that met the inclusion criteria. Source names and links to those that met the criteria were saved in excel for later reference. Major reputable society/organization sites that were not found on the initial search were browsed separately and included if they had relevant pages. These sites were reviewed by the Image Gently Steering Committee and the ISR Quality and Safety Alliance.

Limitations:
• Although we include a section for medical professionals, this compendium serves as a resource aimed at a broad audience and information is not further divided into that relevant for different groups such as patients, parents, and the public.
• Restricting the format to a question & answer design excluded many reputable radiology sources including most radiologic society websites.
• The list of websites includes only pages in English.
• The scientific complexity of some of the pages may be beyond that of the typical patient, however, there should be a sufficient number of sources per section to account for individual patient needs.
• Content, format, and fact checking are ultimately the responsibility of the host site.
• As we are linking to information beyond the ISR website, we are not in control of the uptime of the webpages. Regular evaluations for nonfunctioning links and whether the information is up to date will be considered in resource maintenance.
• No merit is intended with inclusion or listing sequence.

Other Select General Resources for Informed Use of Medial Radiation:
www.eurosafe.org
www.imagegently.org
www.imagewisely.org
www.radiologyinfo.org