A quality assurance programme may be defined as an organized effort by the staff operating a facility to ensure that the diagnostic images produced by the facility are of sufficiently high quality so that they consistently provide adequate diagnostic information at the lowest possible cost and with the least possible exposure of the patient to radiation.In its most comprehensive form, the quality assurance programme monitors each phase of operation of the diagnostic radiological facility,beginning with the request for an examination and ending with the interpretation of the examination and the communication of this interpretation to the referring physician.Included within this programme are actions to ensure that the radiology equipment used for the examination will yield the information desired about the patient. The actions considered in this guide include appropriate selection of equipment, as well as monitoring and maintenance of its performance.
Quality assurance programmes, designed to ensure that the radiology equipment can yield the desired information,include both quality control techniques and quality administration procedures. Quality control techniques are used to test the components of the radiological system to verify that the equipment is operating satisfactority. Quality administration procedures encompass managemet actions designed to verify that the quality control monitoring techniques are performed regularly and properly,that the results of these techniques are evaluated promptly and accurately,and that the necessary corrective measures are taken in response to these results.Quality administration procedures include the assignment of responsibility for quality assurance actions,the establishment of standards of quality for equipment in the facility, the provision of adequate training, and the selection of the appropriate equipment for each examination.