OBJECTIVE: To measure the effect on general practitioner referrals for radiography of introducing guidelines of good practice together with monitoring and peer review. DESIGN: Collection of referral data during 1 January 1989 to 31 December 1990. Guidelines were introduced on 1 January 1990. SETTING: Open access radiology services provided by one non-teaching district in England. SUBJECTS: 144614 registered patients from 22 practices. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Number of referrals per 1000 registered patients for radiography of the chest, skull, spine, abdomen, limbs, and joints and for barium investigation and excretion urography. RESULTS: Overall referrals fell from 88.4/1000 registered patients to 77.2/1000 after the guidelines were introduced. The commonest reasons for referral were for examination of the chest, spine, and limbs and joints and referrals for these fell by 9.4%, 17.5%, and 13.5% respectively. Referrals for skull radiography fell by 30% (from 241 to 168). CONCLUSIONS: By helping general practitioners to be more selective in their use of diagnostic radiology, the guidelines reduced the rate of referral and thus patients' exposure to radiation.
OBJECTIVE: To measure the effect on general practitioner referrals for radiography of introducing guidelines of good practice together with monitoring and peer review. DESIGN: Collection of referral data during 1 January 1989 to 31 December 1990. Guidelines were introduced on 1 January 1990. SETTING: Open access radiology services provided by one non-teaching district in England. SUBJECTS: 144614 registered patients from 22 practices. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Number of referrals per 1000 registered patients for radiography of the chest, skull, spine, abdomen, limbs, and joints and for barium investigation and excretion urography. RESULTS: Overall referrals fell from 88.4/1000 registered patients to 77.2/1000 after the guidelines were introduced. The commonest reasons for referral were for examination of the chest, spine, and limbs and joints and referrals for these fell by 9.4%, 17.5%, and 13.5% respectively. Referrals for skull radiography fell by 30% (from 241 to 168). CONCLUSIONS: By helping general practitioners to be more selective in their use of diagnostic radiology, the guidelines reduced the rate of referral and thus patients' exposure to radiation.
Authors: J Malone; R Guleria; C Craven; P Horton; H Järvinen; J Mayo; G O'reilly; E Picano; D Remedios; J Le Heron; M Rehani; O Holmberg; R Czarwinski Journal: Br J Radiol Date: 2011-02-22 Impact factor: 3.039