Evidence-based radiology: requirements for electronic access.

Abstract

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to determine the electronic requirements for supporting evidence-based radiology in today's medical environment. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A software engineering technique, use case modeling, was performed for several clinical settings to determine the use of imaging and its role in evidence-based practice, with particular attention to issues relating to data access and the usage of clinical information. From this basic understanding, the analysis was extended to encompass evidence-based radiologic research and teaching. RESULTS: The analysis showed that a system supporting evidence-based radiology must (a) provide a single point of access to multiple clinical data sources so that patient data can be readily used and incorporated into comprehensive radiologic consults and (b) provide quick access to external evidence in the way of similar patient cases and published medical literature, thus supporting evidence-based practice. CONCLUSION: Information infrastructures that aim to support evidence-based radiology not only must address issues related to the integration of clinical data from heterogeneous databases, but must facilitate access and filtering of patient data in order to improve radiologic consultation.