Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2021
Advisor
Elizabeth Ey
Abstract
This project attempts to address the problem of excessive radiation exposure via CT imaging for pediatric patients presenting at adult regional trauma centers.
To answer this question, we utilized the pediatric trauma registry to conduct a retrospective chart review of consisting of all patients under 14 years of age that received trauma related CT imaging and that were transferred from an adult trauma center to Dayton Children’s Hospital in the time period of January 2019 to December 2019.Cases of unnecessary imaging will be determined by subject matter expert review, based on ACS and Image Gently guidelines. Cases of overexposure to radiation were determined via DLP and effective radiation dose, in conjunction with subject matter expert review.
Results showed that 48 pediatrics patients were transferred to Dayton Children’s Hospital from 12 different adult trauma, from January to December 2019. In total, 118 scans were performed on these 48 patients. Of these, 41 scans were identified as an opportunity for improvement. The most common opportunity for improvement was a reduction in unnecessary cervical spine scans.
From a patient safety perspective, this project emphasizes the need for increased knowledge of pediatric imaging guidelines at adult trauma centers. Such knowledge includes knowing when a scan can be reformatted from an existing image, as well as an understanding of weight-based pediatric imaging. A follow up project could be to assess for change after implementation of guidelines at the adult trauma centers.
Repository Citation
Clouse, B., Ey, E., Paton, S. J., Pianki, F., Pence, J. C., Schwing, L., & Campbell, M. (2021). CT Scan Effective Radiation Dose Reduction in Pediatric Trauma Patients. Wright State University. Dayton, Ohio.
