Introduction

The clinical practice guidelines of the Society of Interventional Radiology attempt to define practice principles that generally should assist in producing high quality patient care. These guidelines are voluntary and are not rules. A physician may deviate from these guidelines, as necessitated by the individual patient and available resources. These practice guidelines should not be deemed inclusive of all proper methods of care or exclusive of other methods of care that are reasonably directed towards the same result. Other sources of information may be used in conjunction with these principles to produce a process leading to high quality medical care. The ultimate judgment regarding the conduct of any specific procedure or course of management must be made by the physician, who should consider all circumstances relevant to the individual clinical situation. Adherence to the SIR Quality Improvement Program will not assure a successful outcome in every situation. It is prudent to document the rationale for any deviation from the suggested practice guidelines in the department policies and procedure manual or in the patient's medical record.

When it comes to the best practices for safely performing minimally invasive medicine, we wrote the book and published our standards for excellence to ensure the best patient outcomes. These standards evidence-based are used by the FDA, hospitals, state regulatory groups, and other medical specialists that are involved in the practice of interventional procedures. As you look through the standards, you will find criteria for adequate training for specific interventional procedures, as well as expected success and complication rates.

Quality Assurance and Guideline Development Process

For more information on the types of documents, the development process and how guidelines are used in practice, read these articles:

• Society of Interventional Radiology Clinical Practice Guidelines
  David Sacks, Tricia E. McClenny, John F. Cardella, and Curtis A. Lewis
  J Vasc Interv Radiol 2003 14: S199-S202.
• Guidelines for Establishing a Quality Assurance Program in Vascular and Interventional Radiology
  J Vasc Interv Radiol 2003 14: S203-S205.

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