ARRS In-Training Resources

Practice Quality Improvement (PQI)


What is PQI?

Practice quality improvement (PQI) is a process by which radiologists, their practices, or their facilities, deliver and document the quality of care they provide to their patients.

PQI for diagnostic radiology affects many categories of practice:

  • Patient safety
  • Accuracy of interpretation
  • Report timeliness
  • Practice guidelines and technical standards
  • Referring physician surveys
  • Improving the patient experience

Why Should You Care About PQI?

As professional members of the medical community, we all strive to provide excellent care to patients every day. In the current day and age, this means continuous knowledge improvement, adaptation of practice guidelines and new technologies. PQI accomplishes two goals: 1) more quality improvement initiatives and 2) documentation of quality improvement in radiology.

PQI - How is it done?

PQI is based on the principles of the quality improvement (QI) cycle. This cycle consists of four basic steps:

  1. Plan: Select an area of practice to improve, collect data, set goals/predict outcomes
  2. Do: Do the project, record data, document results
  3. Study: Review the results and compare to your predications/goals you set. What did not work well? Why?
  4. Act: Adjust the plan, document which changes you made and why, restart the cycle until the goal is achieved or continue for quality assurance