radiography-incident-report

Incident Reporting & Response — Radiography

Respond to, record and learn from incidents involving patients attending for medical imaging in an imaging department. The deliverable is a factual incident report and a lessons-learned action list. This skill is written for a diagnostic radiographer working with patients attending for medical imaging in an imaging department.

When to use

• You are a diagnostic radiographer preparing, delivering or reviewing this part of your work in an imaging department.
• You need a defensible, repeatable approach that produces a factual incident report and a lessons-learned action list.
• A colleague, auditor or client asks how this was done and what evidence supports it.

Key Concepts

Term	Meaning
Justification	confirming an examination's benefit outweighs its radiation risk
Reject analysis	reviewing why images were repeated
ALARP	radiation dose kept as low as reasonably practicable

Workflow

1. Step 1 - Make the situation safe first; attend to people before paperwork, and escalate if excess radiation dose is still live
2. Step 2 - Record facts while they are fresh: what happened, when, who was involved, what was observed — in examination requests
3. Step 3 - Notify the people and bodies who must know, within the timeframes that apply in an imaging department
4. Step 4 - Support those affected, including honest communication with patients attending for medical imaging about what happened and what happens next
5. Step 5 - Analyse causes without blame, agree preventive actions with owners and dates, and track them to closure

Profession-Specific Components

Component	Details for Radiography
Core documentation	examination requests; dose records; image quality assessments; incident reports
Core tools & equipment	X-ray systems; CT and MRI scanners; image processing workstations; protective equipment
People involved	patients attending for medical imaging; the diagnostic radiographer; colleagues and other services in an imaging department
Primary record	examination requests — keep it current, dated and attributable

Output Format

Context: [Situation in an imaging department] | Objective: [What this must achieve] | Audience: [patients attending for medical imaging and other stakeholders]

The finished output is a factual incident report and a lessons-learned action list, structured as:

1. Summary of position and evidence
2. Detail, following the workflow above
3. Decisions, actions, owners and dates
4. Review point and escalation route

Action Plan

1. Immediate: Confirm scope, consent and the evidence available in examination requests.
2. Short-term: Complete the workflow steps and record outcomes against examination waiting times.
3. Medium-term: Review results, close actions, and update local procedures in an imaging department.

Success Metrics

Metric	Target	Method
examination waiting times	Agree a local target and track the trend	Measured from examination requests and reviewed on a set cycle
image reject rate	Agree a local target and track the trend	Measured from examination requests and reviewed on a set cycle
dose compliance	Agree a local target and track the trend	Measured from examination requests and reviewed on a set cycle
report availability times	Agree a local target and track the trend	Measured from examination requests and reviewed on a set cycle

Guardrails & Quality Checks

• Never let this happen: excess radiation dose.
• Never let this happen: wrong patient imaged.
• Never let this happen: missed pregnancy checks.
• Work only within the competence and authority of a diagnostic radiographer; escalate or refer anything beyond it.
• Record facts and observations, not speculation, and keep records confidential to an imaging department's rules.
• Verify names, dates, figures and measurements twice before anything is issued or signed off.
• Use only real, verified information from the case in hand — never invent results, credentials or evidence.

Example (illustrative)

A diagnostic radiographer in an imaging department applies this workflow for patients attending for medical imaging: they open examination requests, work through the five steps using X-ray systems, and close by recording the outcome against examination waiting times and agreeing the next review date. (Illustrative example only — replace with the real details of the case in hand.)