Japan
Research Article
Quality Improvement in External Radiation Therapy Using a Departmental Incident Reporting System and Multidisciplinary Team Efforts
Author(s): Seiichi Ota, Hajime Monzen, Iori Sumida, Yasuo Yoshioka, Ryoko Kado, Shinichi Inoue, Kazuhiko Ogawa and Yasumasa NishimuraSeiichi Ota, Hajime Monzen, Iori Sumida, Yasuo Yoshioka, Ryoko Kado, Shinichi Inoue, Kazuhiko Ogawa and Yasumasa Nishimura
Purpose: Incidents in radiation therapy occur due to the complex process, non-automated procedures, and miscommunication. We performed a prospective study to reduce the incidence rate during 4 years of external radiation therapy using incident-reporting system with multidisciplinary team (MDT) efforts.
Methods: Incidents from May 2009 to April 2013 were recorded, blame-free and voluntarily. The incidents involved errors which were unintended, whether they caused patient harm or not. Cause analysis of the incidents and interventions were performed through an MDT meeting in which all staff participated, including radiation oncologists, medical physicists, nurses, and radiation technologists. Our interventions included continuous feedback and improvements with minimized unnecessary stress.
Results: In total, 49 actual incidents among 2,350 radiation therapy courses were n.. Read More»
DOI:
10.4172/2155-9619.1000243
Nuclear Medicine & Radiation Therapy received 706 citations as per Google Scholar report