RANZCR Launches Android App to Guide Imaging Referrals

Clinical decision rules (CDRs) help clinicians use evidence-based strategies to classify patients into higher and lower risk categories for a given clinical condition to eventually determine if medical imaging would be beneficial.

The CDRs app complements the interactive Educational Modules for Appropriate Imaging Referrals introduced last year by RANZCR, and funded by the RHCE Program, that aim to improve the decision making process for medical imaging referrals.

The educational modules were created to assist health professionals by guiding them to think more comprehensively about the role of imaging in patient assessment and care with regard to unnecessary diagnostic testing.

Validated, evidence-based  CDRs are ultilised in the modules so that they can be used to either estimate the probability of a disease or an outcome as well as suggest a diagnostic or therapeutic course of action.

These imaging referral recommendations also formed the foundation for the six RANZCR Choosing Wisely recommendations, a health profession-led initiative launched in 2015.

To support the use of the CDRs, RANZCR developed the smartphone app to provide easy access to the decision pathways for clinicians and health care professionals.

The ‘Imaging CDRs’ app is available for free on the App Store and the Google Play store.

For more information about the initial project please visit the RANZCR website

For more information about the Choosing Wisely Campaign please visit the website