Radiological Service

Radiological Service 1. The radiologist is a key member of the trauma team and should be represented on the Multidisciplinary Trauma Committee. A radiological service must have a certified radiological technician who must be available in-house 24 hours/day to meet the immediate needs of the trauma patient for general radiological procedures. A technician must be immediately available for computerized tomography (CT) for both head and body. If the specialty technician is on-call from home, a mechanism must be in place to assure early notification and timely response. 2. Specialty procedures such as Sonography must be available to the trauma team and may be covered with a technician on call. If the technician is not in-house 24 hours/day for special procedures, the performance improvement process must document and monitor the procedure is promptly available. It is desirable that MRI services be available to the trauma team. 3. The radiologist liaison must attend at least 50 percent of committee meetings and should educate and guide the entire trauma team in the appropriate use of radiologic services. A staff radiologist must be promptly available, when requested, for the interpretation of radiographs, performance of complex imaging studies or interventional procedures. The radiologist must ensure the preliminary interpretations are promptly reported to the trauma team and radiology services must monitor the interpretation. 4. Written policy must exist delineating the prioritization/availability of the CT scanner for trauma patients. The Trauma Center must have policies designed to ensure that trauma patients who may require resuscitation and monitoring are accompanied by appropriately trained providers during transportation to, and while in, the radiology department.