Imaging

Use these resources as a guide to medical imaging in the emergency department.

Imaging guidelines

These sites provide a range of guidelines to guide the appropriate choice of diagnostic imaging in clinical situations:

• American College of Radiology
• Canadian Association of Radiologists: Referral guidelines
• Radiology Across Borders: Diagnostic imaging pathways

Choosing Wisely

Choosing Wisely Australia
Resources for clinicians and consumers, listing tests, treatments and procedures that they should question.
Source: Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care

Specific medical college recommendations on tests and studies to avoid:

• Australasian College for Emergency Medicine recommendations
• The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists recommendations

Education

• How to read a head CT (PDF 1.8 MB)
  Published: June 2019. Next review: 2026.
  Source: ECI
• Radiology imaging database
  A collection of over 120,000 pathological images.
  Source: Life in the Fast Lane

Patient fact sheets

• Medical imaging in pregnancy
  Source: ECI
• Medical Imaging Network fact sheets
  Fact sheets on CT scans, MRI and MRI with gadolinium-based contrast injections. 
  Source: Agency for Clinical Innovation

Further resources

• Inside Radiology
  Provides useful information for consumers as well as providers on the indicators, contraindicators and risks of each radiological test.
  Source: Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists
• RANZCR Standards of Practice for Interventional Radiology and Interventional Neuroradiology
  Specifies standards that are required to safeguard patient safety and maintain good clinical practice to ensure patients receive optimum care from providers.
  Source: Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists