Image Gently Launches Family-Friendly Campaign

The new Image Gently® Family-Friendly Campaign offers a free online “plug-and-play” module to educate medical students and early-career providers about informed, team-based radiation safety and dose optimization strategies to help ensure appropriate, optimally-performed pediatric imaging.  

 “With the Family-Friendly Campaign, family physicians, radiologists, and other healthcare providers are working together to achieve a better collective understanding of interactions for medical radiation safety and dose optimization,” said Christopher William Bunt, MD, FAAFP, family medicine physician, module co-director for the Family-Friendly Campaign. “Informed providers make better ordering decisions, can help advocate for care with their healthcare teams and help patients understand their imaging needs.”

"The Family-Friendly modules are wonderfully concise and helpful to all medical providers involved in pediatric imaging in any capacity,” said Delaney Walden, MD, pediatric resident, Family-Friendly module creation team when a medical student. “The new module clearly summarizes and explains best practices for imaging children, how to prioritize imaging modalities and discuss risks and benefits with parents. This helps us as providers have more productive shared decision-making conversations.”

The interactive module uses a radiation risk framework to close the health literacy gap, encourage evidence-based practice, empower learner-directed change through motivational interviewing and employ shared decision-making to promote a respectful healthcare environment.

“Radiologists, referring providers, medical physicists and radiologic technologists all need to contribute to appropriate and optimized imaging,” said Donald Frush, MD, FACR, chair of the Image Gently Alliance. “The imaging team can help referring providers to decide which imaging should be done and when, understand examination doses and dose management, and weigh the relative benefits of these often lifesaving exams.”  

Upon completion of the module, which simulates imaging decisions for a common pediatric case of acute abdominal pain, learners should be able to accurately:

• Explain radiation, radiation risks and risk mitigation strategies using layperson terminology.
• Use clinical decision support, or critically appraise available literature, to guide medical recommendations.
• Describe how to engage with healthcare teammates to utilize available evidence-based recommendations.
• Demonstrate shared decision-making with patients and their families.

“Medical imaging and radiation therapy professionals are on the front lines of patient care and serve a crucial role in making sure patients receive high quality radiologic care,” said Heather Moore, Ph.D., R.T.(R), chair of the board of directors for the American Society of Radiologic Technologists. “A better understanding of dose optimization and imaging appropriateness, and the ability to relay this information to patients, can strengthen our partnership with patients and help achieve better care.”

The Image Gently® Family-Friendly Campaign module was created by an interprofessional, interdisciplinary team made up of family medicine and pediatric radiology physicians, radiologic technologists, medical physicists, health profession educators and medical students. 

“Medical physicists ensure that imaging equipment is installed, operates and delivers doses appropriately to ensure quality images that enable physicians to make the right diagnosis,” stated M. Mahesh, PhD, FAAPM, FACR, president of The American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM). “The Family-Friendly Educational Campaign, through a clinical setting of medical imaging and radiation use, brings multiple healthcare provider specialists together to make care more informed and collaborative decisions to improve the patient experience.”

To speak with Dr. Frush, contact Shawn Farley via email or phone at 703-869-0292.

To speak with Dr. Moore, contact Bernadette Bell via email or phone at 800-444-2778 (Ext. 1522).

To speak with Dr. Mahesh, contact Glen Hawkins via email or phone at 571-298-1300.

To speak with Dr. Bunt, please contact MUSC Health media relations.

To speak with Dr. Walden, please contact Naval Medical Center Portsmouth (NMCP) Public Affairs Office via email or phone at 757-953-0629. 

The Image Gently Alliance website (imagegently.org) contains the latest research and educational materials to aid radiologists, radiologic technologists, medical physicists and other imaging stakeholders in determining the appropriate radiation techniques to be used in the imaging of children and how the radiation received from these exams may affect pediatric patients over time. Health care providers are urged to pledge to do their part to image gently.