Washington University in St. Louis (WU)
Quality improvement techniques are both a clinical and research interest as well as the applications to reduce cost which is of great significance at such a pivotal time for healthcare and specifically for radiology. The dramatic growth of diagnostic imaging has been driven in large part by growth and benefit in CT, while the potential risk of the radiation dose administered during CT prompts reappraisal of how to optimize the risk/benefit ratio. While on the front-line, Radiologists occupy a crucial role in the overall process because we challenged to convert the clinical request into a detailed prescription that details how ionizing radiation should be administered. We view protocol decisions and as crucial control point in the process and hypothesize that there is a strong linkage between protocol choice and CT dose.