InsideRadiology

InsideRadiology is an Australasian resource on clinical radiology tests, procedures, and interventions, providing up-to-date information to health consumers and health professionals and improving doctor-patient communication.

www.insideradiology.com.au

The mission of InsideRadiology is to be the leading Australasian resource on clinical radiology tests, procedures, and interventions, providing up-to-date information to health consumers and health professionals and improving doctor-patient communication.

Originating from a College project commissioned in 2006 and previously funded by the Commonwealth Department of Health, InsideRadiology has been designed to fill the gap in health literacy of the general public around clinical radiology tests, procedures and professions. It has been found that anxiety is reduced and better managed by patients if they have prior knowledge of the procedure. InsideRadiology has been a flagship consumer resource for the College since its launch in 2009.

InsideRadiology has two key audiences:

• health consumers (patients, their families and friends); and

• health professionals (referring clinicians and allied health professionals).

Information is based on the Australian and New Zealand health systems although InsideRadiology attracts an international audience with just shy of 2 million visitors annually.

By providing a link between health consumers, clinical radiology referrers and the profession, InsideRadiology has been meeting the demand for highquality information. It is an important advocacy tool for transparency in clinical radiology, as well as the promotion of the role and value of the profession. InsideRadiology is a collaborative project that brings together clinical radiologists, referring clinicians and consumers, with the ultimate aim of improving the quality of medical imaging services through the provision of accurate, current, and criticallyreviewed information.

This information is written for both referring clinicians and healthcare consumers and goes through a rigorous editorial process, with each topic being reviewed by a second content expert, a clinical radiologist, a general practitioner, and a consumer advisor. Information topics are also edited by a team of specialised consumer writers to ensure that they are easily understood by health consumers, while the general practitioner review ensures that there is correctly targeted information for referrers. Information is used as reference material for informed consent protocols, imaging accreditation, medical student education and enhancing links with other medical information websites (e.g. HealthDirect).

InsideRadiology is also an important contributor to rational, evidence-based ordering of diagnostic imaging in primary health care. It provides the referring clinicians not only with resources to support their patients' queries but also answers some of their own questions about clinical radiology, including prerequisites, contraindications, and alternative tests and procedures for each information item. InsideRadiology currently hosts more than 180 information items covering 92 different topics ranging from general X-ray to nuclear medicine and interventional radiology procedures to general information around radiation risks of medical imaging. Topics also introduce members of the medical imaging team and their role within the team.

InsideRadiology has been an important contributor to rational, evidence-based ordering of diagnostic imaging in primary care in Australia. I have welcomed the opportunity to work with the Editorial Team and appreciated the robust way in which all contributors have approached their task. RANZCR should be proud of the team’s willingness to incorporate consumer and general practice perspectives into the resource. Consumers, governments and members of health professions should feel confident that who use InsideRadiology will be both better informed and more confident about clinical decisions made in this ever expanding field.

Prof Grant Russell, InsideRadiology GP Advisor 2013–2018, Monash University

Diagnostic and interventional radiology plays a vital and pivotal role in our health system. Despite the fact radiology has been this vital part of our health system for so long, or perhaps because of it, consumers take radiology very much for granted and it has become the invisible part of the journey through illness and injury. InsideRadiology has provided consumers with the opportunity to access the expertise of radiologists firsthand. InsideRadiology has, since its inception in 2008, been unique and innovative in providing accurate, up-to-date information from a credible source to meet the high demand for high quality information from today’s consumers.

Ms Ann Revell, InsideRadiology Consumer Advisor