What is the American College of Radiology Dose Index Registry (ACR DIR)?
The ACR DIR is an international effort to collect CT radiation dose indices and provide comparison data to participating facilities. Facilities are able to transmit their dose indices to the ACR electronically, either directly from the CT scanner on which the study was performed or from an auxiliary computer at the facility. The ACR provides each facility with a web-based dashboard on which they can access summary reports of their submitted parameters, as well as comparisons to equivalent facilities in their region and at the national level ( Figure 7-4 ). For example, a small community hospital is compared to other similar hospitals, rather than to a large academic medical center. In order to perform these head-to-head comparisons, each participating facility must map their unique exam codes and descriptions to a set of standard exam codes and descriptions called the RadLex Playbook. More information about the DIR is available online at http://www.acr.org/Quality-Safety/National-Radiology-Data-Registry/Dose-Index-Registry .
