QUALITY AND SAFETY IN RADIATION ONCOLOGY. IMPLEMENTING TOOLS AND BEST PRACTICES FOR PATIENTS, PROVIDERS, AND PAYERS

• Part I. Basic Concepts in Quality, Value, and Safety
1. Introduction to Concepts in Quality, Value, and Safety for Health Care Systems
2. Defining Value, American Style
3. Defining Value in European Health Care Systems
4. Systems Engineering and Process Control
5. Error Prevention and Risk Management
6. Quality, Value, and the Assessment of New Technology
• Part II. Quality in Radiation Physics
7. Equipment and Software: Commissioning From the Quality and Safety Perspective
8. Equipment, Software, and Techniques for Quality Assurance
9. Quality Considerations in External Beam Radiotherapy Simulation and Treatment Planning
10. Quality Considerations in Brachytherapy
11. Quality Considerations in Proton and Particle Therapy
12. Quality Assurance and Verification of Treatment
13. Plan Quality: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
14. Special Procedures and Equipment
15. Individual Patient-Based Peer Review for Photon and Proton Therapy
16. Technical Issues of Safety in a Resource-Limited Environment
• Part III. Quality in the Clinical Practice Setting
17. Creating a Culture of Safety and Empowerment
18. Clinical Testing of Quality and Safety Measures
19. Quality and Safety Training in Graduate Medical Education
20. Training: How to Teach Quality and Safety
21. Making Metrics Matter
22. The Patient Perspective on Quality and the Role of the Patient in Safety
23. The Impact of Incidents: Reporting, Investigating, and Improving
24. Medical Error Disclosure
25. Error Identification and Analysis
26. Introduction and History of Patient Safety Organizations: The Formation of a National Safety Program
27. Quality Assurance and Safety Requirements for Clinical Trials
28. Incident Learning Systems
29. Quality and the Role of the Dosimetrist and Therapist in Radiation Oncology
30. Quality and the Electronic Medical Record in Radiation Oncology
31. Quality and the Third-Party Payer
Heather A. Curry
Appendix: Quality Assurance and Patient Safety Checklists
Checklist for Peer Review Paper
External Beam Plan Checklist
Plan Checks and Pretreatment Physics Quality Assurance Checks
Checklist for Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy Treatment
Time Out Checklist
Checklist of a Gamma Knife Perfexion Daily Quality Assurance Example
Checklist for Treatment Day Quality Assurance of Perfexion
Checklist for Gamma Knife Perfexion Pretreatment
Checklist for Treatment Delivery Quality Assurance of Perfexion Patients
Checklist for Gammamed HDR Treatment
Checklist for Commissioning
Index

Quality and Safety in Radiation Oncology provides an authoritative and evidence-based guide to the understanding and implementation of quality and safety procedures in radiation oncology practice. A detailed exploration and review of these standards is a necessary part of a radiation oncology professional’s competency, both in the clinical setting and at the study table while preparing for board review and MOC exams. This book is also essential for other members of the radiotherapy team, including for medical physicists implementing procedures and working with wide-ranging technologies and equipment and for dosimetrists and radiation therapists tailoring and carrying out safe and effective treatment plans.
Chapter topics range from fundamental concepts of value and quality to specific technical consideration in the commissioning and use of equipment to the use of metrics to measure value. Chapters include perspectives on quality and safety from the patient, third-party payers, as well as from the federal government. Other chapters cover prospective testing of quality, training and education, error identification and analysis, incidence reporting, as well as special technology and procedures, including MRI-guided radiation therapy, proton therapy and stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT), quality and safety considerations in resource-limited environments, and more. Physicians, medical physicists, dosimetrists, radiation therapists, nurses, hospital administrators, vendors and other health care professionals will find this resource an invaluable compendium of best practices in radiation oncology.

KEY FEATURES:
• Case examples illustrating best practices and pitfalls
• Dozens of graphs, tables and figures which help illustrate and quantify the discussion of quality and safety throughout the text
• Part II covers essential aspects of quality and safety procedures for the medical physicist
• Includes examples of checklists to support best practices