Principles of quality management in medical imaging

The quality management processes used by industrial companies have become commonplace in the healthcare system and are proving successful in improving quality and controlling costs. The total quality management system is important for safe and efficiently run medical imaging. Quality management includes quality control, quality assurance, and continuous quality improvement in all aspects of medical imaging to improve the quality of healthcare. For quality improvement of medical imaging, medical imaging accreditation programs are being systematically implemented in many countries including Korea. Quality management in the medical imaging process will be effective within a system of cooperation among stakeholders and professionals. In this review, I describe the concept and basic definition of quality management in medical imaging and introduce quality management programs from countries outside Korea.