Radiation Oncology Safety and Quality Committee: News corner - PEF Version
Welcome to this first news corner of the Radiation Oncology Safety and Quality Committee (ROSQ). The ROSQ is a multidisciplinary committee, the membership of which comprises radiation oncologists, physicists and RTTs who come from all parts of the world. As with all groups, the inability to meet face-to-face over the last few months has made it difficult to move forward with plans, but despite this the committee has been actively addressing a range of issues of interest to our community. A short summary of our activities is given below.
Lecture series
As many teaching courses and workshops have been postponed we have decided to build on the educational available in the radiation oncology safety education information system (ROSEIS) and to prepare a series of lectures and videos that relate to quality and safety. These lectures provide background information, methodologies and clinical applications regarding safety, quality, risk and risk management. The lectures are presented in three blocks, the first of which is now available on the European SocieTy for Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO) website through the resources section in MyESTRO and through the e-library at the following link: https://estro.org/Library/Search?s=ROSQ. In the coming months additional topics will be added. The lectures that are currently available are:
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Justification and optimisation of image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT) strategies – mitigating radiation risk in the clinic
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Communication, team work and a safety culture
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Mitigating risk to radiation therapy services during the COVID-19 pandemic
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The PRISMA-RT/ROSQ ALERTS research project
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Safety II and [functional resonance analysis method] FRAM
We will spotlight some of these in future editions of the news corner.
Lectures to be published include Safer Radiotherapy, Ethics, Quality Assurance and FMEA
COVID-19 survey
The RTT committee previously published a guidance document (1) and infographic (2) in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Against this background, the ROSQ initiated a study that was based on a survey by the Canadian Association of Provincial Cancer Agencies, and invited the RTT committee to collaborate. The study used a cross-sectional design with two aims: (i) to investigate the extent to which changes had become embedded in current clinical RTT practice internationally due to the COVID-19 pandemic; and (ii) to recommend potential proactive measures that were thought necessary for future RTT practice to cope with further COVID-19 surges or potential future pandemics. The survey has been completed and a publication has been prepared for submission. Demand for radiotherapy services is expected to rise steeply due to the resumption of screening services and the need to commence treatment of patients who were delayed during the initial Covid-19 surge. This publication will include recommendations to maintain the provision of radiotherapy services in the event of future Covid-19 infection increases or future pandemics.
American Association of Physicists in Medicine task group 288
The ROSQC is represented on the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) task group that is working on consensus recommendations for incident narrative formatting. Guidelines should be available at the end of the year.
Mary Coffey
Chair, ROSQ committee
References:
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Y. Tsang, A. Duffton, M. Leech, M. Rossi, P. Scherer, on behalf of ESTRO RTTC. Meeting the challenges imposed by COVID-19: Guidance document by the ESTRO Radiation TherapisT Committee (RTTC). Technical Innovations & Patient Support in Radiation Oncology (2020). doi: https://doi.org/ 10.1016/j.tipsro.2020.05.003
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ESTRO. COVID-19 – Recommendations for RTTs - ESTRO RTT Committee. https://www.estro.org/About/Newsroom/News/COVID-19-RECOMMENDATIONS-FOR-RTTS-ESTRO-RTT-COMMIT#. Accessed on 20 May 2020.