A Medical Device Daily

The the association for medical imaging management, AHRA (Sudbury, Massachusetts) reported it has created the Patient First Program funded by an unrestricted educational grant from Toshiba America Medical Systems (TAMS; Tustin, California).

The AHRA will award three Patient First grants of $7,500 to assist hospitals in creating create programs, training and/or seminars to improve patient care and safety in diagnostic imaging in the areas of computed tomography, MRI, Ultrasound, X-ray and vascular imaging, as well as develop best practices to share with other hospitals.

Penny Olivi, CRA, FAHRA and president of AHRA, said, "The Patient First grants will allow hospitals to fund important programs and training to improve the quality of care they offer."

The Patient First programs should address one or more of the following:

• Reducing radiation and/or contrast dose

• Improving communication with patients regarding the imaging process

• Improving patient comfort

• Improving the overall clinical pathway

Cathy Wolfe, director, Marketing Services, Toshiba, said, "We are proud to continue ... funding grants that seek to support the development of best practices in diagnostic imaging."

TAMS sells and services diagnostic imaging systems, and coordinates clinical diagnostic imaging research for all modalities in the U.S.