Good quality is impossible to attain if quality standards are not embedded in the culture of the department/institution. Therefore, all staff contributing to the treatment chain are encouraged to attend. Obviously without a heavy involvement of team leaders a quality system will be difficult to set up and to maintain, consequently, all heads of departments and future leaders - should ideally be familiar with what this course will cover.

For the above reasons, the course is aimed at radiation oncologists, medical physicists, radiation therapists (RTTs) and hospital/department administrators. It is also of interest to any team member who might have embarked on a teaching programme with the aim of becoming head of department.

Course directors

• Núria Jornet, Medical Physicist, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau (ES)
• Nicolas Pourel, Radiation Oncologist, Institut Sainte Catherine (FR)

Teachers

• Coen Hurkmans, Medical Physicist, Catharina Ziekenhuis (NL)
• Amanda Caissie, Radiation Oncologist, Saint John Regional Hospital (CA)
• Marjolein van Os, Erasmus Medical Center Rotterdam Daniel den Hoed Cancer Center (NL)
• Yolande Lievens, Radiation Onclologist, Ghent University Hospital (BE)
• Karine Gerard, Medical Physicist, Institut de Cancerologie de Lorraine (FR)

This course aims to:

• Deliver a comprehensive overview of how to set up a quality system in a department, define useful quality indicators and learn different methods to monitor and improve quality
• Provide awareness of what clinical audits and clinical trials can contribute to a quality system
• Introduce techniques for technology assessment and algorithms to calculate staffing levels in a department, topics of outmost importance in this time of financial crisis.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course participants should be able to set up or review the quality system in their department.

In particular they should be able to:

• Explain how risk management, quality monitoring and quality improvement are linked
• Construct a process chart from the different steps in the treatment
• Define quality indicators and quality standards
• Compare tools and methods to monitor quality, application to radiotherapy
• Apply LEAN method for quality improvement
• Explain how clinical audits are set up and how they contribute to quality assessment and improvement
• List different methods for technology assessment
• Perform staffing levels calculations.

Course Content

For this online edition the course will be extended to five weeks. The course sessions will be held on Monday and Tuesdays afternoons from 14 to 18h (exact time TBC). They will include lectures and seminars where the practicals will be discussed. The participants will have a week to prepare each of the practical’s individually and by groups with the help of a tutor. We aim to allow the participants to put to practice what will have been discussed in the lectures and to learn how to work in a multidisciplinary and international group.

From risk management to quality improvement: how can we use the information that we get from FMEA, fault tree analysis, etc. to feed our QI system?

• Quality assessment:

- metrics for quality measurement: quality indicators

- quality standards

- monitoring quality indicators (general)

- how to interpret quality measures

- monitoring quality indicators through SPC

- how should tolerance and action levels be set?

• Methods for quality improvement:

- introduction to different methods

- a focus on LEAN

• Quality improvement strategies: clinical audits and feedback
• Technology assessment methods:

- cost-effectiveness studies: HERO project

- QA in clinical trials

• Staffing levels in RT
• European directives on quality and safety in radiotherapy.

Prerequisites

The two courses on Quality Management, Risk Management and Quality Assessment, have been designed to be complementary and it is recommended to attend both to get a complete picture of quality management. However, the order in which they are taken does not matter. To fully profit from the course it is recommended that participants have at least three years’ experience in a radiation oncology or medical physics department to have a complete picture of the radiotherapy process.

Teaching Methods

• 12 hours of lectures
• 5 hours of practical workshops
• 3 hours of case discussions.

Methods of Assessment

• Evaluation form
• MCQ.

Affiliation

Programme

Programme available here

Key Words

Quality management, quality improvement, health economics, technology assessment, quality indicators.

Further Reading

Please consult the ESTRO website page of this course for further information.

Accreditation

Application for CME recognition will be submitted to the European Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (EACCME), an institution of the European Union of Medical Specialists (UEMS). EACCME credits are recognised by the American Medical Association towards the Physician’s Recognition Award (PRA). Information on the status of the applications can be obtained from the ESTRO office.

Membership

ESTRO members can order products at substantially reduced prices. Please note that in order to benefit from the member price, you must renew your membership for 2021 before registering to the course.To benefit from these member rates, please visit the membership page to become a member or renew your membership BEFORE proceeding with your order.

Fees

*  All specialties: Albania, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia,, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, Ukraine

RTTs and physicists only: Cyprus  

RTTs only: Italy 

To apply for the above rate, please contact education@estro.org at least 2 weeks before the start of the course. Thereafter, the desk rate will be applied.

** Members with specialty Radiation Therapist (RTT) may register at the In Training fee

The standard rate is applied up to 2 weeks before the starting date of the course.

Desk rates are applied 2 weeks before the starting date of the course.

Advance registration & payment are required.              

Registration will close on the date published on the front page of the course.
 

Cancellation

A registration to the online workshop may be cancelled without any fees before pre-online course material is sent out. Pre-online course material is sent out a few days before the first workshop lesson. After the pre-online course material is sent out, no refund of the  registration fee is possible.

Fee for ESTRO members working in countries with a less competitive economic background:

ESTRO members working in countries with a less competitive economic background can benefit from the above fees if three conditions are met:

1. Only ESTRO members for 2021 are eligible (please make sure your 2021 membership is in order before you apply for the reduced fees
2. Sponsored candidates are not entitled to these fees (the invoicing address has to be the one of the participant)  
3. Your application is submitted 2 weeks before the course start date