J Korean Med Assoc.  2020 Mar;63(3):136-139. 10.5124/jkma.2020.63.3.136.

Prospects on the increase of radiological examinations in Korea

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Radiology, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, The Catholic University of Korea College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. dumky@catholic.ac.kr

Abstract

Due to technological advances and the establishment of evidence-based medicine, radiological examinations are playing a crucial role in modern medicine, as a result of which they have been steadily increasing, and the rate of increase has intensified in the 2000s. Although this is a global phenomenon, the increase of radiological examinations in Korea is also high due to the introduction of the National Health Insurance Coverage Expansion Policy, so-called Moon Jae-in Care, for ultrasonography and magnetic resonance imaging. For accurate and rapid diagnosis of diseases, it is necessary for doctors to order appropriate radiological studies. However, the increase in radiological examination has created many problems, such as increased medical costs, decreased diagnostic accuracy due to radiologist burnout, and increased patient exposure to radiation. To reduce unnecessary imaging studies, a number of measures could be deployed including the development of clinical guidelines to select appropriate radiological examinations for each clinical situation.

Keyword

Radiology; Health insurance; Ultrasonography; Magnetic resonance imaging

MeSH Terms

Diagnosis
Evidence-Based Medicine
History, Modern 1601-
Humans
Insurance, Health
Korea*
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Moon
National Health Programs
Ultrasonography

Cited by  1 articles

A 13-year-old boy with strangulation of the floating gallbladder by the lesser omentum
Mi Kyung Kim, Seong Hwan Shin
Pediatr Emerg Med J. 2022;9(1):61-64.    doi: 10.22470/pemj.2022.00416.


Reference

1. Amis ES Jr, Butler PF, Applegate KE, Birnbaum SB, Brateman LF, Hevezi JM, Mettler FA, Morin RL, Pentecost MJ, Smith GG, Strauss KJ, Zeman RK. American College of Radiology. American College of Radiology white paper on radiation dose in medicine. J Am Coll Radiol. 2007; 4:272–284.
Article
2. Korley FK, Pham JC, Kirsch TD. Use of advanced radiology during visits to US emergency departments for injury-related conditions, 1998-2007. JAMA. 2010; 304:1465–1471.
Article
3. Bhargavan M, Kaye AH, Forman HP, Sunshine JH. Workload of radiologists in United States in 2006-2007 and trends since 1991-1992. Radiology. 2009; 252:458–467.
Article
4. Jung SE. Study for Improvement of policy regarding specialized high end medical equipment [Internet]. Sejong: Ministry of the Interior and Safety [cited 2020 Feb 28]. Available from:. http://www.prism.go.kr/homepage/entire/retrieveEntireDetail.do;jsessionid=4F8A2BDD07B566E2C8ADA3323AC14DFC.node02?cond_research_name=&cond_research_start_date=&cond_research_end_date=&research_id=1351000-201000110&pageIndex=1628&leftMenuLevel=160.
5. Ha JH. Burnout and mental health of physicians. J Korean Med Assoc. 2019; 62:346–348.
Article
6. Harolds JA, Parikh JR, Bluth EI, Dutton SC, Recht MP. Burnout of radiologists: frequency, risk factors, and remedies: a report of the ACR Commission on Human Resources. J Am Coll Radiol. 2016; 13:411–416.
Article
7. Seong KM, Seo S, Lee D, Kim MJ, Lee SS, Park S, Jin YW. Is the linear no-threshold dose-response paradigm still necessary for the assessment of health effects of low dose radiation? J Korean Med Sci. 2016; 31(Suppl 1):S10-S23.
Article
8. Jeong WK, Baek JH, Jung SE, Do KH, Yong HS, Kim MJ, Choi M, Lee M, Choi SJ, Jo AJ, Choi JA. Imaging guidelines for enhancing justifications for radiologic studies. J Korean Med Sci. 2016; 31(Suppl 1):S38-S44.
Article
9. Gazelle GS, Halpern EF, Ryan HS, Tramontano AC. Utilization of diagnostic medical imaging: comparison of radiologist referral versus same-specialty referral. Radiology. 2007; 245:517–522.
Article
10. Litt AW, Ryan DR, Batista D, Perry KN, Lewis RS, Sunshine JH. Relative procedure intensity with self-referral and radiologist referral: extremity radiography. Radiology. 2005; 235:142–147.
Article
Full Text Links
  • JKMA
Actions
Cited
CITED
export Copy
Close
Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
Similar articles
Copyright © 2024 by Korean Association of Medical Journal Editors. All rights reserved.     E-mail: koreamed@kamje.or.kr