TELERADIOLOGY documents

Policies, Standards, Guidelines and Recommendations for the implementation of TELERADIOLOGY services in member countries.
August 2010

GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS AND INTRODUCTION

The Inter-American College of Radiology (CIR) approved in March 2009 in the city of Medellín, as part of its Development Plan 2008-2010, the establishment of a program for the study, implementation, and standardization of teleradiology services in its member countries. To this end, a working group was formed, represented by several countries and members with firsthand experience of their systems and regions, including the European Community, Canada, North America, Central America, and South America.

The policies recommended by the CIR for the proper use of Teleradiology are framed within the College's own principles, such as respect for the practice of the individual profession, the autonomy of countries and regulatory bodies, promoting productive teamwork, fostering responsibility and ethical standards in the practice of the profession, and ultimately benefiting patient health care. The CIR only recognizes good practice in teleradiology when it strictly adheres to the precepts of the codes of Medical Ethics and respects the rights of patients.

The College is aware of the difficulties involved in the proper implementation of a new tool such as Teleradiology; therefore, its standards, guidelines, and recommendations are subject to ongoing revisions and updates. Today, we cannot conceive of any human process, science, or profession that does not operate within a shared universal sphere, addressing common challenges and seeking collective solutions.

The document includes standards, guidelines, and recommendations that are presented below as a result of a working consensus based on the experiences of the collaborating countries. It has also taken as a fundamental reference the most internationally accepted standards, including those of the American College of Radiology (ACR), the European Union, and the International Radiology Quality Network (IRQN), along with the experiences of several of our countries such as Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Spain, Mexico, and Puerto Rico, among others. The opinions, suggestions, and contributions from other countries will be incorporated in the future through periodic revisions of the document by the working group. All countries are invited to improve these guidelines day by day based on their own experiences.

We present two documents and some final recommendations of the CIR:
Document 1: Basic recommendations for the practice of Teleradiology.
Easy to read and reference material.

Document 2: Standards, guidelines and general recommendations for the practice of teleradiology in the member countries of the CIR. Reference material where the existing recommendations are collected and the College's own concepts are added to be consulted and applied in the countries.

This document includes the: Recommendations and final conclusions of the CIR. The material presented in the recommendations and final conclusions helps to summarize the general document collecting the global policies of the College and the experience of the practice of Teleradiology of the countries, stimulating its discussion and the improvement of the exercise of this tool. The College is also ready to review and update these conclusions and recommendations.
The "Spirit of the CIR" aims to be the link that allows unifying local experiences in order to obtain minimum standards shared by our peoples.