Program Information
Closing the Quality Management Loop with An Automated Plan Check That Draws From An Incident Reporting System
B Neal*, J Nasehi Tehrani , J Siebers , University of Virginia Health Systems, Charlottesville, VA
Presentations
SA-B-BRA|B-10 (Saturday, March 18, 2017) 10:30 AM - 12:30 PM Room: Ballroom A|B
Purpose: To reduce the frequency of treatment planning related incidents and eliminate the need for any post-physician approval modifications to radiation therapy treatment plans, thereby improving safety and efficiency.
Methods: A real-time plan Quality Management program was implemented to monitor completion of treatment planning tasks and compliance of treatment planning settings to local standards, as defined by our department policies, procedures, and practices. Items were identified which were not otherwise checked by the treatment planning system. Checklist items were identified based upon incident reports, recall of past incidents, and evaluation of the previous post-plan approval workflow. Treatment planning scripts and an associated extensible python graphical interface were created to detect and report the compliance with standards, displayed as checklist items. An associated set of scripts were created to auto-correct non-compliances.
Results: The implemented system should eliminate incidents related to checklist items. The checklist can be readily expanded to prevent new found incidents. Planners appreciate being able to concentrate on the planning challenges of a case, with fewer distractions from the logistics of minutia.
Conclusion: We have improved the safety and efficiency of our radiation oncology department by monitoring and recording deviations from standards, implementing a real-time notification system to identify those errors, and providing for automated fixing of non-compliance issues. This allows a shift from reactive quality assurance to proactive quality management, ensuring better outcomes for patients.
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