TY - JOUR T1 - Development of consensus statements for pregnancy screening in diagnostic nuclear medicine: A Delphi study JF - Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology JO - J. Nucl. Med. Technol. DO - 10.2967/jnmt.114.148262 SP - jnmt.114.148262 AU - Daphne J James AU - Helen M Warren-Forward Y1 - 2015/01/01 UR - http://tech.snmjournals.org/content/early/2015/01/21/jnmt.114.148262.abstract N2 - Current radiation protection recommendations do not provide clear guidelines or advice on pregnancy screening strategies for diagnostic nuclear medicine procedures. Previous studies have reported on variations in current practice for pregnancy screening prior to diagnostic nuclear medicine procedures. The development of consensus statements aims to provide a consistent approach and assist nuclear medicine personnel to confidently question patients about their pregnancy status. Methods: The Delphi technique was chosen for the research design. A panel of “experts” was recruited based on their expertise and experience. Panel members were provided with a summary of existing research. Consensus agreement was pre-defined as 80%. Questionnaires were developed and distributed to the panel members with iterative analysis and feedback between survey rounds. The Round 1 questionnaire was developed from the results of a previous survey. It consisted of 30 questions designed to gather the opinions of the expert panel. Results: An expert panel consisting of ten experienced nuclear medicine personnel from Australia and New Zealand was recruited. Three survey rounds were conducted online using SurveyMonkey between December 2013 and June 2014. Following analysis of the Round 1 responses, consensus statements were developed for Round 2 and revised in Round 3. Consensus was achieved for 16 statements. The statements recommend verbal questioning with patient signature, define age range for questioning as 12-55 years, and provide advice on the use of pregnancy testing and questioning potentially difficult groups, such as teenagers. A flowchart was included for comment in Round 3. Conclusion: This is the first Australian study to develop consensus statements and a flowchart to assist nuclear medicine personnel in consistently and confidently questioning patients about their pregnancy status prior to diagnostic procedures. Implementation of these statements into clinical practice guidelines should reduce the possibility of inadvertent fetal irradiation. ER -