Referral Guidelines
Regulation 14.2 of S.I. 478 of 2002 states that “The practitioner in charge of an installation shall recommend …. the referral criteria for prescribers when referring patients for radiological procedures”.
In a dental practice, where a limited number of procedures are performed, a written list of the clinical indications for each procedure should be compiled by the Dentist in charge. Alternatively, the practice could adopt a set of national or professional guidelines on patient selection. For example;
In the case of a DEXA scanner in a GP practice, the referral criteria should normally be compiled by the appointed “Practitioner”. Examples of guidelines for patient selection for bone densitometry include;