Setting up a quality-assurance program: issues with impact on patient care.

We developed a simplified approach to the setting up of a radiology quality-assurance program based on the standards of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals. This approach gives priority to the little-discussed issues that have maximum impact on patient care: the monitoring of the radiologic service as a whole and personnel performance. Quality control of equipment and radiation protection have been extensively dealt with in the literature and are omitted.