How Do You Improve What You're Doing?

Maintenance of Certification (MOC) — Additional MOC Information

Practice Quality Improvement: How Do You Improve What You're Doing?

The ABR calls its practice performance requirement Practice Quality Improvement, or PQI. The ABR requires diplomates to conduct continuous quality-improvement projects over the 10-year cycle of the MOC program. It defines five general topic areas for PQI projects. These projects focus on the role imaging plays in improving patient care by increasing efficacy and efficiency in radiologic practice environments. As such, the ABR expects all projects should fit into at least one of these areas:

Patient safety and medical error reduction
Adherence to clinical practice guidelines and technical standards
Accuracy of image interpretation
Report timeliness
Referring physician surveys

You must decide on a project in one of these five areas, working as an individual, within a department, as part of a practice group, within an institution, or in association with a national medical society.

Diplomates inform the ABR of their progress in PQI through attestation in their ABR Personal Data Base (PDB). When visiting the PQI page of his/her PDB, the diplomate is given the opportunity to indicate the PQI activity or activities completed in the current year and to answer questions concerning the nature of the specific project upon which he/she has been working.

Quality Improvement Committee

In response to the PQI requirement, RSNA has formed the Quality Improvement Committee (QIC) to develop programs and tools to help you understand what you have to do to meet practice-improvement requirements, provide examples to follow, and identify or develop tools you can use.

On its Web site, the RSNA has established a Quality Improvement page at RSNA.org/quality that provides information about organizations and institutions offering basic training and education in quality improvement, tools commonly used in the quality improvement process, sources of evidence-based medicine and performance measures, and sources of data to help you benchmark your practice and outcomes within your practice.

The Web page is a work in progress. The RSNA will continue to expand the page to meet your quality improvement needs by adding resources and programs to help you assess and improve your practice.

Training and Tools

The RSNA QIC is currently designing and developing radiology-specific programs to support RSNA members and their colleagues in practice assessment and PQI.

The Quality Improvement Web page presently lists a number of public and private national organizations and institutions that provide educational opportunities to help you to acquire quality improvement skills, including the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the National Association for Healthcare Quality, the Joint Commission, the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care, the National Committee for Quality Assurance, the American College of Medical Quality, the National Center for Patient Safety, the Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement, and the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine.

In addition to education and training, some of these organizations also provide online generic templates of quality improvement tools that you can adapt to your own use. For example, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement offers a tool called the Improvement Tracker that helps you track key quality improvement measures.

The RSNA's QIC is also in the process of developing its own toolbox that will offer specific tools radiologists can use for PQI. These tools will be posted on the Web page (RSNA.org/quality) as they become available.

The Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine has developed its own toolbox that includes (a) generic resources for evidence-based medicine, such as tips on searching for the best evidence, and (b) specific tools, such as an interactive calculator to help you calculate likelihood ratios.

Other MOC Resources

In addition to helping you meet the MOC requirement for PQI, the RSNA offers a number of resources to help you meet all of the requirements of the MOC program:

RSNA Annual Meeting—The RSNA Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting is a prime source of continuing medical education (CME) credit for radiologists and radiologic physicists. The meeting offers a variety of CME and self-assessment module (SAM) credits through refresher courses, scientific sessions, and other educational programs.
Self-Assessment Modules—RSNA SAMs consist of peer-reviewed educational materials related to a wide variety of subspecialty areas. All RSNA SAMs meet the ABR’s MOC requirements for self-assessment and are eligible for CME credit. You may access SAMs through the Education Portal of the RSNA Web site (RSNA.org/education) under MOC, or take in-person SAMs at the RSNA Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting.
My CME Action Plan—This Web-based template allows you to develop the personalized education plan recommended by the ABR as part of the MOC process. As you complete the plan, you list your CME requirements, prioritize your educational needs, plan future CME activities, and record MOC-related activities for lifelong learning. Go to RSNA.org/education, click on MOC, and then click on My CME Action Plan.
RSNA CME Credit Repository—The RSNA automatically deposits CME and SAM credits earned through RSNA activities into the RSNA CME Credit Repository (RSNA.org/cme). As an RSNA member, you can also enter other earned CME credits to create a cumulative CME report or print a CME certificate for RSNA-awarded AMA PRA Category 1 Credit.^TM
CME Gateway—The RSNA and several other medical specialty organizations maintain an online CME Gateway (www.CMEgateway.org). The CME Gateway allows you to view, print, and generate reports of CME credits earned from each of the sponsoring organizations to which you belong.

Useful Web Sites:

For additional information on RSNA's MOC resources, call 1-800-272-2920.