The Evolution of Universal Protocol in Interventional Radiology

Interventional Radiology (IR) encompasses a wide range of procedures which can pose challenges to site verification unlike those in the operating room. At Children's Hospital of Boston, an incident occurred during an IR procedure which demonstrated that the hospital-wide site verification process did not include issues specific to IR. Our facility responded to this incident by analyzing the process, identifying the complexity of the factors that may have contributed, and implementing an improved site verification process in the radiology area. This report describes our clinical experience on developing a safe and effective means of verifying procedural site and implementing Universal Protocol in IR.