User guide for RadGuide

RadGuide is intended as an aid in a busy working day for those of you who refer patients for radiological examinations.

We have taken the most common reasons for referral as our basis and tried to make RadGuide as easy to use as possible. You are always just 2 clicks away from the information you need. From the front page, one click will take you to the relevant organ system, and from there one more click will take you to the organ to be examined. There is also a search function that makes it easy to search for a diagnosis and find what you should refer to.

RadGuide is far from exhaustive. It is no replacement for clinical judgement, but we believe it can help ensure the patient is quickly referred for the right examination.

In some cases, we have chosen to use symptoms as the starting point for the referral guide. In other cases, we have chosen a tentative diagnosis. That is because we believe you use both in your consideration of the case.

For most diagnosis, a hyper link has been included to the "e-medicine" website, where you can read about the diagnosis in question. (This needs one more click.) RadGuide can therefore also be used as a medical reference work.

Naturally, this kind of guide must be used with discretion. RadGuide is based on our recommendations, but we understand that others may have divergent opinions. We have taken into consideration the diagnostic value of the examination, possible radiation dose and the cost of the examination for society. Our recommendations are based on balancing all these factors.

In terms of language, we have been conservative. We have used a number of Latin words and expressions, because we believe these are still most commonly used among doctors.

Finally:
If you are in doubt, do not be worried about referring someone for the "wrong" type of examination. We constantly consider indications and the optimum use of resources for all kinds of referrals, so that the most appropriate examination will be chosen.

We hope that you will find our new RadGuide useful.

Regards,

Tor Ole Kjellevand

Medical Manager, Unilabs Oslo, Norway

Knut Korsbrekke

Radiologist, Unilabs Bergen, Norway