October 2012 – Clinical Decision Support and Acute Low Back Pain: Evidence-Based Order Sets

Approved for 1 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits

Credits awarded for this enduring activity are designated “SA-CME” by the American Board of Radiology (ABR) and qualify toward fulfilling requirements for Maintenance of Certification (MOC) Part II: Lifelong Learning and Self-assessment.

Radiologists who are ACR Members can earn FREE CME by completing this online, journal-based, reading activity. ACR Members will NOT be charged, but must go through the shopping cart, click SUBMIT ORDER, and then open "My Education" page to access the activity.

This journal-based activity presents current content to encourage readers to think critically about issues in radiology and the broader field of medicine; to provide radiologists insight into improved practice and management techniques that will improve their practices; and to encourage radiologists’ participation in practice management, organizational, and policy-related activities. Readers complete the activity by reading a peer-reviewed article, reviewing references, and then responding to a minimum of five self-assessment questions online.

Upon completion of this activity, the reader will be able to:

• Describe that Clinical Practice Guidelines, CPG, based on evidence-based recommendations, for imaging and treatment of acute low back pain are remarkably similar across geographic regions and specialties but are not being implemented and followed.
• Identify barriers to implementation of CPG in everyday practice and the potential benefits of integration of a Clinical Decision Support, CDS, system in promoting application of evidence-based imaging and treatment guidelines in the setting of acute low back pain.
• Translate the current clinical practice guidelines for the management of acute low back pain into specific order templates for each of the three subsets of patients with acute low back pain: the patients with nonspecific low back pain, those patients with symptoms of radiculopathy or spinal stenosis, and the subset of patients with associated "red flag" conditions.