Planetary Health and Radiology: Why We Should Care and What We Can Do.

Climate change adversely affects the well-being of humans and the entire planet. A planetary health framework recognizes that sustaining a healthy planet is essential to achieving individual, community, and global health. Radiology contributes to the climate crisis by generating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions during the production and use of medical imaging equipment and supplies. To promote planetary health, strategies that mitigate and adapt to climate change in radiology are needed. Mitigation strategies to reduce GHG emissions include switching to renewable energy sources, refurbishing rather than replacing imaging scanners, and powering down unused scanners. Radiology departments must also build resiliency to the now unavoidable impacts of the climate crisis. Adaptation strategies include education, upgrading building infrastructure, and developing departmental sustainability dashboards to track progress in achieving sustainability goals. Shifting practices to catalyze these necessary changes in radiology requires a coordinated approach. This includes partnering with key stakeholders, providing effective communication, and prioritizing high-impact interventions. This article reviews the intersection of planetary health and radiology. Its goals are to emphasize why we should care about sustainability, showcase actions we can take to mitigate our impact, and prepare us to adapt to the effects of climate change. © RSNA, 2024 Supplemental material is available for this article. See also the article by Ibrahim et al in this issue. See also the article by Lenkinski and Rofsky in this issue.

The Physician Quality Improvement Initiative: Engaging Physicians in Quality Improvement, Patient Safety, Accountability and their Provision of High-Quality Patient Care.

University Health Network has been working to become a high-reliability organization, with a focus on safe, quality patient care. In response, the Medical Affairs Department has implemented several strategic initiatives to drive accountability, quality improvement and engagement with our physician population. One of these initiatives, the Physician Quality Improvement Initiative (PQII) is a physician-led project designed to provide active medical staff, in collaboration with their physician department chiefs, a comprehensive approach to focused and practical quality improvement in their practice. In this document, we outline the project, including its implementation strategy, logic model and outcomes, and provide discussion on how it fits into UHN's global strategy to provide safe, quality patient care.

Adolescents and Young Adults: Addressing Needs and Optimizing Care With a Clinical Nurse Specialist.

Adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with cancer aged 15-39 years have unique psychosocial, informational, and medical concerns compared to their older adult and pediatric counterparts. Recognizing the gaps in young adult cancer care, an AYA program was launched at a large tertiary cancer center to optimize the AYA cancer care experience. This article describes the contributions of a clinical nurse specialist in AYA program development.