SU-F-P-08: Medical Physics Perspective On Radiation Therapy Quality and Safety Considerations in Low Income Settings

2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (6Part5) ◽  
pp. 3359-3359
Author(s):  
J Van Dyk ◽  
A Meghzifene
Keyword(s):  
Radiation Therapy ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Medical Physics ◽  
Quality And Safety ◽  
Safety Considerations ◽  
Therapy Quality

Communities of practice: A jurisdictional approach to improving the quality of care in radiation medicine in Ontario.

2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (7_suppl) ◽  
pp. 122-122
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Lockhart ◽  
Michelle Ang ◽  
Lindsay Elizabeth Reddeman ◽  
Michael Sharpe ◽  
Margaret Hart ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Radiation Therapy ◽  
Quality Of Care ◽  
Knowledge Transfer ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Communities Of Practice ◽  
Radiation Treatment ◽  
Medical Physics ◽  
Quality And Safety ◽  
Radiation Medicine

122 Background: The Radiation Treatment Program (RTP) at Cancer Care Ontario (CCO) established several Communities of Practice (CoPs), with the goal of improving radiation treatment (RT) quality and safety. The RTP identifies variation in practice and quality improvement (QI) opportunities in the 14 Regional Cancer Centres (RCCs) and facilitates the development of CoPs to share best practices and standardize care. Methods: Since 2010, the RTP has formed 7 CoPs ( > 185 members in total): 4 intra-disciplinary (Radiation Therapy, Medical Physics, Advanced Practice Radiation Therapy, Radiation Safety) and 3 inter-disciplinary (Head and Neck (HN), Gynecological (GYNE) and Lung Cancer). Members are recruited with the aim of securing engagement from all RCCs to ensure representation of regional diversity and to facilitate adoption of best practices. CoPs are supported with nominal funding and resources provided by CCO, but are led and driven by members, who identify and prioritize key quality issues and select corresponding QI projects to pursue. The RTP performs regular evaluation activities to assess initiative engagement and impact. Results: RTP CoPs have enhanced the quality and safety of RT delivery in Ontario through QI initiatives, advice documents and tools that have enabled: Improved RT safety (use of safety straps in RT delivery); Adoption of best practices (RT plan evaluation guidance); Education and knowledge transfer – (stereotactic body RT implementation and training framework); and Support for infrastructure improvements (recommendation for additional Magnetic Resonance-guided brachytherapy units) ( https://www.cancercare.on.ca/ocs/clinicalprogs/radiationtreatment/ ). Advice documents have improved alignment with recommended practice (40% and 50% absolute increases in two HN initiatives). Evaluation surveys indicate that members believe the CoPs have enhanced inter-regional communication and collaboration (89%), knowledge transfer/exchange (91%), and professional networking between RCCs (92%). Conclusions: CoPs can be a highly effective model for improving quality of care. The establishment of CoPs should be considered for QI in other areas of the healthcare system.

Tools for risk assessment in radiation therapy

2012 ◽  
Vol 41 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 197-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Ortiz López
Keyword(s):  
Radiation Therapy ◽  
Radiological Protection ◽  
Quality And Safety ◽  
Energy Agency ◽  
Safety Issues ◽  
Safety Programme ◽  
Specific Safety ◽  
High Doses ◽  
Very High ◽  
Icrp Publication

Radiotherapy has unquestionable benefits, but it is also associated with unique and specific safety issues. It is the only application of radiation in which humans are intentionally delivered very high doses. Safety in radiotherapy remains heavily dependent on human actions. A step-by-step approach is suggested for the prevention of accidental exposures in radiation therapy: (1) allocation of responsibilities to qualified professionals, and design of a quality and safety programme - no radiotherapy practice should be operated without these key elements; (2) use of the lessons from accidental exposures to test whether the quality and safety programme is sufficiently robust against these types of events –publications by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) and the International Atomic Energy Agency provide a collection of lessons to facilitate this step; and (3) find other latent risks by posing the questions ‘What else could go wrong?’ or ‘What other potential hazards might be present?’ in a systematic, anticipative manner - methods to do so are described briefly in ICRP Publication 112.

scholarly journals Radiation therapy quality in CCG/POG intergroup 9961: implications for craniospinal irradiation and the posterior fossa boost in future medulloblastoma trials

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernadine Donahue ◽  
Mary A. H. Marymont ◽  
Sandra Kessel ◽  
Matthew K. Iandoli ◽  
Thomas FitzGerald ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Radiation Therapy ◽  
Posterior Fossa ◽  
Craniospinal Irradiation ◽  
Therapy Quality
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