I chose to attend the Telluride Experience because patient safety is integral to good patient care. So little is understood in Radiology which is often simplified to taking pictures and putting words to “it.” It’s actually a coordinate effort with steps including: provider-patient interaction, provider discussion, test ordering, test scheduling, test protocoling, imaging procedure, integration, reporting and result communication as outlined by Lacson et. al in the March 2019 JACR article entitled Classifying Safety Events Related to Diagnostic Imaging From a Safety Reporting System Using a Human Factors Framework. Not surprisingly, communication at various times, in particular reporting and result communication was the step in which the risk for harm was greatest. I want to walk away from the Telluride Experience having achieved practical skills and tools that will allow me to intelligently speak about why patient safety matters, how to improve patient safety, and hopefully identified a need/project to make patients safer in radiology/improve the quality of diagnostic/interventional radiology encounters. A multidisciplinary conference will allow me multiple perspectives that will to achieve my goals.
