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, within its Development Plan 2008-2010 the configuration of a program for the study, implementation and standardization of Teleradiology services in its member countries. For this purpose, a working group was set up represented by several countries and members with their own experience of their systems and regions, including the European Community, Canada, North, Central and South America.

The policies recommended by the CIR for the proper use of Teleradiology are framed within the School's own such as respect for the exercise of the individual profession, autonomy of countries and regulatory bodies, promote productive teamwork, promote responsibility and ethical criteria for the exercise of the profession and finally, benefit the health care of patients. The CIR only recognizes the good practice of teleradiology when it strictly complies with the precepts of the codes of Medical Ethics and complies with the rights of patients.

The School is aware of the difficulties for the proper implementation of a new tool such as Teleradiology, therefore its standards, guidelines and recommendations are subject to permanent revisions and updates. Today we cannot conceive of any human process, science or profession that does not act within a universal sphere by sharing problems and seeking common solutions.

The document includes standards, guidelines and recommendations that are presented below as a product of a working consensus, based on the experience 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, the International Radiology Quality Network (IRQN) together with the experience of several of our countries such as Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Spain, Mexico and Puerto Rico, among others. The opinions, suggestions and contributions of other countries will be added in the future, through periodic revisions of the document by the working group. All countries are invited to improve these delineations day by day according to 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 own concepts of the School 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.