Guideline registries and libraries: a mixed-methods approach identified issues to be addressed with content.

OBJECTIVE: To establish what GIN guideline community members see as the desirable features of a guidelines library and registry of guidelines in development STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: An explorative mixed-methods study was undertaken, including scoping activity and semi-structured interviews with guideline developers and endorsers from nine member organizations of the Guidelines International Network. RESULTS: A small number of desirable features of a guideline library were identified: comprehensiveness; single source of information to avoid searching multiple sites; inclusion of related materials; being up to date; searchability and ease of use. No existing library of guidelines was considered to have all of these features. A number of issues arose out of the desire to have a comprehensive library of guidelines, including inclusion of 'high quality guidelines' and limiting the scope to include only national guidelines. For registries of guidelines in development, the data set should be limited to avoid placing undue burden on those entering information. CONCLUSION: Our findings identify ongoing issues for the guideline community, including the tension between comprehensiveness and ease of use, which can result in limited uptake, reporting of guideline quality and the need for clarity on the purpose of any library or registry.

Optimisation of radiographic acquisition parameters for direct digital radiography: A systematic review.

INTRODUCTION: The objective of this systematic review was to uncover and synthesise all available literature regarding appropriate acquisition parameters for direct digital radiography. It sought to either confirm current practices as optimal, or to uncover practices that may produce more optimised results. METHODS: A comprehensive search of published and unpublished literature was undertaken to find studies that evaluated how adjustment of different acquisition parameters affected subjective image quality and patient radiation dose. Eight hundred and fifty-eight studies were retrieved for title and abstract screening. Eighty-nine studies were retrieved for full-text screening, and 23 were included for review and methodological quality screening. RESULTS: Narrative synthesis of the 23 included studies revealed limited evidence to guide any potential change or acceptance of currently accepted best practice. Meta-analysis was unable to be performed for any of the included studies due to high levels of methodological heterogeneity. A key finding of this review was that the goals of optimisation research varied greatly across the included studies. CONCLUSION: Significant methodological heterogeneity in the included studies limited the number of clinically relevant findings that would give evidence to an acceptance of, or suggest changes to, currently accepted best practice. Improving consistency in approach across future works of technique optimisation will ensure future systematic reviews will be able to provide strong evidence and meta-analysis will be able to be performed. IMPLICATIONS FOR CLINICAL PRACTICE: This review highlights that in the literature, studies of optimisation of radiographic acquisition parameters have varying goals. This methodological heterogeneity limits the applicability of systematic reviews and precludes the use of meta-analysis. The authors recommend that a framework for optimisation research be produced as a priority to help improve homogeneity in future research.

Evidence-based healthcare, knowledge translation, implementation science and radiography: What does it all mean?

Evidence-based healthcare is an approach to practice whereby decision making and service delivery considers the best available evidence, patient choice, local resources and clinical expertise. Although sound in theory, compliance with evidence-based practice is often far from optimal. To address this, related fields such as knowledge translation and implementation science have emerged, which largely focus on methods and techniques to facilitate the transfer of evidence into practice. This introductory article explains the key concepts of evidence-based healthcare by using the JBI Model as a framework to highlight the lifecycle of evidence-based information. Throughout the article we refer to exemplars from medical radiation to highlight these concepts.

Why isn't there an evidence-based radiography? Reflections and a call to action.

In an ideal world all healthcare professionals (including radiographers and medical radiation professionals) would deliver care based on the best available evidence, ensuring best outcomes and optimal use of resources. Unfortunately, we know this is often not the case. This article calls for structural changes to enable the development of an evidence-based radiography.

The only constant in radiography is change: A discussion and primer on change in medical imaging to achieve evidence-based practice.

Medical imaging is an ever changing field with significant advancements in techniques and technologies over the years. Despite being constantly challenged by change, it can be difficult to introduce changes into healthcare settings. In this article we introduce the principles of change management to achieve an evidence-based practice in radiography.