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Program Information

Collective Efforts to Improve Patient Safety Through Change


B Curran

M Huq

P Halvorsen




B Curran1*, M Huq2*, P Halvorsen3*, (1) Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center , Richmond, VA, (2) University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA, (3) Lahey Clinic, Burlington, MA

Presentations

SU-D-BRD-0 (Sunday, March 8, 2015) 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM Room: Ballroom D


While medical physicists individually work to improve patient safety, there have been a number of collective efforts across various professional societies and industries, spanning more than ten years, which promise to bring further enhancements to patient safety. One such effort is the Integrating Healthcare Enterprise in Radiation Oncology (IHE-RO) which has been led by members of industry, representatives of AAPM and ASTRO, and other stakeholders to improve connectivity between radiation oncology systems. IHE-RO has worked to create software structures to increase patient safety including creating the methodology for a plan veto at the treatment unit. From the AAPM perspective, Task Group 100 has applied tools and techniques used in industry towards analyzing radiation oncology processes and recommended a methodology for assessing risks at various steps in a process and for developing a risk based quality management program. Because TG100 represents a philosophical change in how we approach quality in radiation oncology, national efforts and resources being assembled to support its adoption into clinical practice will be described. Finally, we present one clinical medical physicist’s perspective on how TG100 may affect how we evaluate QA processes and adapt our existing practices to improve patient safety.

Learning Objectives:
1. Understand different IHE-RO activities, including plan veto, and how they relate to improving patient safety
2. Learn about the key strategies of AAPM TG100 and further resources focused on developing risk based quality management programs
3. Learn how the concepts in TG100 can be used to analyze current clinical practice


Funding Support, Disclosures, and Conflict of Interest: Bruce Curran: Travel funded by ASTRO for participation in IHE-RO activities. Travel funded by AAPM for participation in DICOM activities.

Handouts


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