Clinical trial NCT01268085: Radiation Safety Alert
Official title: Radiation Safety Alert- A Randomized Controlled Trial
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: TERMINATED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Radiation Safety
Keywords: Radiation Safety
Computerized Physician Order Entry
Decision Support
Cat Scans
Lead sponsor: Montefiore Medical Center
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2010-12-29
Enrollment: 15969
Sex: ALL
Standard ages: CHILD
ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: OTHER

Brief summary: In recent years, multiple articles have highlighted the increased risk of developing cancer from ionizing radiation. The risk increases with higher radiation doses, and accumulates with repeated scans.

Hospitals with computerized physician order entry systems (CPOE) have the unique opportunity to use decision support on radiation safety to influence a physician's ordering practice in real-time. An ideal decision support tool for radiation safety will educate the physician about the dangers of cumulative ionizing radiation, present the patient's image history, and guide the provider to the best modality that meets the patient's diagnostic needs with as little radiation exposure as possible. The design challenge is to create a decision support tool that appropriately protects the investigators patients from overutilization of CAT scans, without inadvertently leading to underutilization of CAT scans or inappropriate utilization of alternative tests.

This research protocol proposes to study one such design at a large, academic medical center.

Detailed description: Ever since the 1979 Nobel Prize was awarded to Cormack and Hounsfield for the development of computer assisted tomography (CAT scans, this technology has revolutionized the practice of medicine. CAT scans combine special x-ray equipment with sophisticated computers to produce images of the inside of the body. They are widely used, noninvasive medical tests that help physicians diagnose and treat numerous medical conditions. In 2000, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Conference of Radiation Control Program Directors (CRCPD) estimated that approximately 40 million CAT scans are performed annually.

In recent years, multiple articles have highlighted the increased risk of developing cancer from ionizing radiation. The risk increases with higher radiation doses, and accumulates with repeated scans. The 2007 American College of Radiology's white paper on radiation dose in medicine by Amis, et al., emphasizes the importance of addressing this issue, and proposes a plan to educate all stakeholders in the principles of radiation safety and appropriate utilization of imaging. In addition, in 2007 the Society for Pediatric Radiology joined forces with the American College of Radiology and several other medical societies to form the Alliance for Radiation Safety in Pediatric Imaging (the Image Gently Alliance). The charge of the Alliance is summarized in its mission statement: "...to raise awareness in the imaging community of the need to adjust radiation dose when imaging children."

Hospitals with computerized physician order entry systems (CPOE) have the unique opportunity to use decision support on radiation safety to influence a physician's ordering practice in real-time. CPOE and decision support technology have been successfully used to positively effect physician ordering behavior and improve patient safety in many aspects of patient care, including the ordering of radiology tests. An ideal decision support tool for radiation safety will educate the physician about the dangers of cumulative ionizing radiation, present the patient's image history, and guide the provider to the best modality that meets the patient's diagnostic needs with as little radiation exposure as possible. The design challenge is to create a decision support tool that appropriately protects our patients from overutilization of CAT scans, without inadvertently leading to underutilization of CAT scans or inappropriate utilization of alternative tests. This research protocol proposes to study one such design at a large, academic medical center.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* All inpatient providers who order a CAT Scan

Exclusion Criteria:

* None

Primary outcomes:
measure: Ordering behavior in response to alert
timeFrame: After 6 months of data collection
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Appropriateness of Imaging Test Ordered in Response to Safety Alert
timeFrame: After 6 months of data collection
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Bronx
country: United States
facility: Montefiore Medical Center
state: New York
Study officials:
affiliation: Montefiore Medical Center
name: Stephen Amis, MD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
affiliation: Montefiore Medical Center
name: Jason S Adelman, MD, MS
role: STUDY_DIRECTOR
References:
citation: Amis ES Jr, Butler PF, Applegate KE, Birnbaum SB, Brateman LF, Hevezi JM, Mettler FA, Morin RL, Pentecost MJ, Smith GG, Strauss KJ, Zeman RK; American College of Radiology. American College of Radiology white paper on radiation dose in medicine. J Am Coll Radiol. 2007 May;4(5):272-84. doi: 10.1016/j.jacr.2007.03.002.
citation: Goske MJ, Applegate KE, Bell C, Boylan J, Bulas D, Butler P, Callahan MJ, Coley BD, Farley S, Frush DP, McElveny C, Hernanz-Schulman M, Johnson ND, Kaste SC, Morrison G, Strauss KJ. Image Gently: providing practical educational tools and advocacy to accelerate radiation protection for children worldwide. Semin Ultrasound CT MR. 2010 Feb;31(1):57-63. doi: 10.1053/j.sult.2009.09.007.