Evaluating “Typical”: Materials and Methods Associated with Typical Exposure Rate and Low-Contrast Performance Annual Evaluations
Description
With the Joint Commission’s (TJC) establishment of fluoroscopy-specific standards (effective January 1, 2019), typical exposure rates and low-contrast performance became required performance evaluations during annual surveys for all accredited institutions. The requirement for the conducting of such evaluations signaled an important step in ensuring fluoroscopy image quality was evaluated on an annual basis. While the requirement to evaluate is clear, no guidelines on workflow or methodology for evaluation are offered. As expected, this has resulted in a diverse set of materials and methods utilized by institutions for their annual evaluations. This set of presentations will provide examples of tools and phantoms utilized clinically for fluoroscopy image quality evaluations, provide an overview of materials and methods utilized during evaluations of typical exposure rate and low-contrast performance at different institutions, and discuss a generalized processing tool developed for fluoroscopy SNR/CNR annual compliance as well as example clinical-use cases of the tool, beyond simple accreditation compliance.