Program Information

Translating AAPM Task Group 100 Into Our Clinics

K Smith¹, T Pawlicki², (1) Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center, Baton Rouge, LA, (2) UCSD Medical Center, La Jolla, CA

Presentations

SU-A-BRD-0 (Sunday, March 6, 2016) 8:00 AM - 10:00 AM Room: Grand Ballroom D

AAPM Task Group 100 recommends risk-based analysis techniques such as failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA) to improve quality control programs. Performance of an FMEA is a team effort and the presentation will address performing FMEA from a group or collaborative approach and review the meaningful dialogue that is helpful when organizing such a task. Individuals involved should have an in depth knowledge of the process being evaluated and a working knowledge of the steps involved in the FMEA risk analysis. The team estimates failure modes along with the probability of the occurrence of the failure, the likelihood of detecting the failure, and the impact on the patient. This session will report on the growing experience with applying FMEA to routine clinical physics duties in radiation therapy such as external beam treatment planning and linear accelerator quality assurance. It is useful to understand potential weaknesses and safety concerns for any clinical process that impacts the patient and therefore, risk analysis may be performed for any process, procedure or routine quality assurance check used in the clinic. FMEA can also be extremely beneficial when applied to high risk procedures such as stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT), and high dose rate brachytherapy. Examples will be shared for the two types of applications. In addition, environmental considerations such as how to educate and create a group to tackle an FMEA will be presented for single institution and multi-institutional approaches.

Learning Objectives:
1. Learn about how FMEA has been used to improve routine radiation therapy quality checks
2. Learn about how to apply FMEA tools to high risk clinical procedures
3. Learn about how to work with others to perform an FMEA within a department or with colleagues at other institutions

Funding Support, Disclosures, and Conflict of Interest: Sasa Mutic receives research funding from Varian. Peter Dunscombe is Director, TreatSafely, LLC; Director, Center for the Assessment of Radiological Sciences; and Occasional Consultant to IAEA and Varian.

Handouts

113-31157-379492-117917-1868513026.pdf (K Smith)

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