The clinical audit in radiology: A glimpse into the practice of the Qaelum audit team.

Despite that clinical auditing has already existed for multiple years, the need for auditing has recently become more important. Instances such as The European Society of Radiology (ESR), the European Commission and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) all agree on the increasing necessity of clinical audits. Even legislative pressure is more pronounced than ever: from February 2018 onwards clinical audits will be obliged for every European radiology department. Beside clinical auditing, the practices of certification and accreditation are remaining essential and increasingly gaining in importance. This indicates your radiology department will be audited in the near future, so you better be well prepared.

Many radiology departments are uncertain about how to prepare for these different types of audits. Typical questions that might occur are:

• “Which are the good practices to pursue?”
  
  
• “Where to get this valuable information from?”
  
  
• “How to update specific procedures?”

Qaelum can help you answering these questions: we can assist with the preparation of your radiology department for clinical audits, accreditation and certification.

Qaelum offers Baseline, which is a manual assessment of your radiology department by our quality experts. It is based on the standards for Quality Assurance Audit for Diagnostic Radiology Improvement and Learning (QUAADRIL, IAEA). Baseline checks how your actual clinical practice compares with good practices and how well the systems in place are achieving the set of quality standards provided by QUAADRIL.

The Qaelum audit team On Site

We proudly present you our Qaelum audit team: radiologist dr. Jan Schillebeeckx, quality coördinator Nelli Ilcheva, radiographer Evgenia Boldyreva and medical physicist Niki Fitousi. The Qaelum team regularly assists radiology departments with the preparation for audits. One of the hospitals that used this service, is Imelda hospital in Bonheiden. For two days, our team reviewed systematically all medical radiological procedures by evaluating the current status of the radiology department with respect to its healthcare services and by identifying areas for future improvement.

Dr. Demeyere, head of radiology of the Imelda hospital, shared her impressions about the work the Qaelum audit team provided on site and about the results of this process.

"Qaelum delivered us Baseline and informed us about our current quality status. I was very pleased with the organization, assessment, and results of the Qaelum audit team: they succeeded to deliver efficient work in a rapid way, with respect to our natural workflow and processes.”

“The morning began with an entrance briefing in order to inform the department about what they could expect for the upcoming two days. Subsequently, the audit team assessed the workflow for a variety of devices such as X-ray, MRI, CT-scan, mammography, and ultrasound. They gathered the required information via an on-site visit of the rooms and short but efficient interview with the area heads about the procedures and standards they implement.”

“Their presence was subtle and in respect with our natural workflow and processes: as they work quickly their presence in one section was very limited in time and restricted to the most necessary.”

“This rapidity didn’t interfere with an efficient way of working: the final report was delivered to us in less than one week! They provided us with an amazingly clear and bright working tool through a direct and accessible overview of action points. Besides this, they gave us also a benchmark. So we could compare our audit results and activities with other departments/hospitals in our country and evaluate our position and work.”

A clinical audit, certification or accreditation often signifies a burden for a radiology department, nevertheless through a good preparation auditing can be a weight off your shoulders.