Committee Procedures

Meeting Procedures

The goal is group consensus and the input and endorsement of imaging community stakeholders on major decisions.

A record of committee decisions and rationale is necessary to be effective and learn.

• Secretariat (RSNA) records minutes (call summaries) for committee meetings
• Secretariat maintains rosters for each committee indicating which members currently have Voting Privileges
  • Members who believe their attendance record is in error should contact the secretariat, preferably before the meeting

Voting

Procedural decisions such as sending a document to ballot are voted on during meetings

• Chairs accept motions, seconds, discussion, and then call for a vote (see Roberts Rules if you need to get more elaborate)
• Members who have Voting Privileges count towards quorum and may vote
• Chairs resolve negative votes and large numbers of abstentions per the consensus process
  • details of the resolution discussion in the minutes is desirable
• Secretariat records the motion, tally of those against/abstaining/in-favor, and the details of negative votes in the minutes

Email Ballot

Some decisions are put to ballot. This allows more deliberation on the subject material than a vote in committee.

• Chairs submit the ballot question and length of the ballot period to the Secretariat
  • The ballot period may be specified by the particular procedure that calls for a ballot
  • It is generally not less than 14 days to allow for members away on vacation
  • If reviewing lengthy documents or collecting feedback within member organizations is involved 30 days or more is better.
• Secretariat emails the ballot to all members with Voting Privileges on the committee making the decision
  • The secretariat may also email "active" members (e.g. attended any of the last 3 or 4 meetings) so those who believe their attendance record is in error can still go ahead and vote, then based on review of their attendance their ballot can be counted or discarded
• Secretariat compiles the ballot responses and comments for the Chairs
• Chairs ratify the resulting tally in the next committee meeting
  • this includes resolving negative votes and large numbers of abstentions per the consensus process
• Secretariat records resolution results/rationale in the minutes

Consensus Process

As a group setting standards on behalf of a community, QIBA Committees actively pursue Consensus.

• strictly speaking a vote/ballot can pass with a quorum of votes and a majority in favor, BUT
  • a negative vote results in further discussion
    • understand the reason for each negative vote and attempt to find a compromise or resolution that often allows everyone to vote in favor
    • if after due diligence exploring compromises it is not possible, the chairs can accept the majority finding and the negative voters have had a chance to have their say and register their issues into the minutes
  • a large number of abstentions also warrants discussion; it can indicate many people have:
    • misgivings
    • not been able to adequately evaluate the question

Committee Leadership

• Coordinating Committees, Biomarker Committees and Task Forces are encouraged to have 2 or 3 leaders who are preferably drawn from diverse backgrounds (Researchers, Clinicians, Physicists, Vendors, Regulators, etc.)
  • If not possible, committees are permitted to have some concentration but should discuss plans to expand stakeholder representation at least annually

See Also

• QIBA Committees