Quality assurance in Health services: The paradigm of radiotherapy

Journal of B.U.ON.

Volumn 19, Issue 1, 2014, Pages 47-52

  Papakostidi, Aristoula ^a   Tolia, Maria ^b   Tsoukalas, Nikolaos ^a  

^a 401 GENERAL MILITARY HOSPITAL OF ATHENS   (Greece)

^b UNIVERSITY OF ATHENS MEDICAL SCHOOL   (Greece)

Author keywords

Clinical oncology; Health services; Oncology practice; Quality assurance; Quality of care; Radiotherapy

Indexed keywords

CANCER PATIENT; CANCER RADIOTHERAPY; CANCER SURVIVAL; DOSIMETRY; EARLY DIAGNOSIS; EARLY INTERVENTION; ELECTRON; HEALTH CARE QUALITY; HEALTH SERVICE; HUMAN; MEDICAL AUDIT; PATIENT REFERRAL; PHOTON; PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT; QUALITY CIRCLE; QUALITY CONTROL; RADIATION EXPOSURE; REVIEW; SYSTEMATIC REVIEW; TEAMWORK; THERMOLUMINESCENCE DOSIMETRY; TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT; TREATMENT PLANNING; UTERINE CERVIX CANCER;

HUMANS; MEDICAL ONCOLOGY; NEOPLASMS; QUALITY ASSURANCE, HEALTH CARE; RADIOTHERAPY PLANNING, COMPUTER-ASSISTED; SAFETY;

EID: 84898908137     PISSN: 11070625     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Review

References (31)

1. Hulick PR, Ascoli FA. Quality assurance in Radiation. J Am Coll Radiol 2005;2:613-616.
2. Thwaites D, Scalliet P, Leer JW et al. Quality assurance in radiotherapy. European society for therapeutic radiology and oncology advisory report to the commission of the EU for the "Europe against cancer programme". Radiother Oncol 1995;35:61-73.
3. Physics aspects of quality control in radiotherapy. Report 81. Mayles WPM et al (Eds). 2000, IPEM, York: Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine.
4. Leer J, McKenzie A, Scalliet P et al. Practical guidelines for the implementation of a quality system in radiotherapy. ESTRO. In: Physics for Clinical Radiotherapy, 1998, Brussels: ESTRO.
5. IAEA. International Atomic Energy Agency: Available from: http://www.iaea.org/index.html.
6. American Association of Physics in Medicine (AAPM), Radiation Therapy Committee Task Group 40. Comprehensive QA for radiation oncology. Report of AAPM Radiation Therapy Committee Task Group 40. Med Phys 1994;21:581-618.
7. Recommendations for the prevention of accidental exposure in external beam RT. ICRP Publication 86, 2001.
8. Ishikura S. Quality assurance of radiotherapy in cancer treatment: Toward improvement of patient safety and quality of care. Jpn J Clin Oncol 2008;38:723-729.
9. Izewska J, Georg D, Bera P et al. Development of a methodology for TLD postal dosimetry audit of high-energy radiotherapy photon beams in non-reference conditions: An IAEA coordinated research project. Book of extended synopses. In: International Conference on Quality Assurance and New Techniques in Radiation Medicine, 2006, Vienna: IAEA.
10. Vatnitsky S, Izewska J, Bera P et al. The IAEA/WHO TLD postal dose audits as a tool for evaluating the status of dosimetry practices in radiotherapy hospitals in developing countries. Book of extended synopses. In: International Conference on Quality Assurance and New Techniques in Radiation Medicine, 2006, Vienna: IAEA.
11. Bernier J, Horiot J, Poortmans P. Quality assurance in radiotherapy: from radiation physics to patient and trial-oriented control procedures. Eur J Cancer 2002;38:S155-158. (Pubitemid 34169781)
12. Atagi S, Kawahara M, Tamura T et al. Standard thoracic radiotherapy with or without concurrent daily low-dose carboplatin in elderly patients with locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer: a phase III trial of the Japan Clinical Oncology Group (JCOG9812). Jpn J Clin Oncol 2005;35:195-201. (Pubitemid 40796853)
13. Ishikura S, Teshima T, Ikeda H et al. Initial experience of quality assurance in radiotherapy within the Japan Clinical Oncology Group (JCOG). Radiother Oncol 2002;64:S224.
14. Coles C, Burgess L, Tan L. An audit of delays before and during radical radiotherapy for cervical cancer: effect on tumour cure probability. Clin Oncol 2003;15:47-54. (Pubitemid 36348118)
15. O'Rourke N, Edwards R. Lung cancer treatment waiting times and tumour growth. Clin Oncol 2000;12:141-144. (Pubitemid 30458749)
16. O'Sullivan B, Mackillop W, Grice B. The influence of delay in the initiation of definitive radiotherapy in carcinoma of the tonsillar region. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 1998; 42(Suppl):323.
17. Fortin A, Bairati I, Albert M et al. Effect of treatment delay on outcome of patients with early stage head and neck carcinoma receiving radical radiotherapy. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 2002;52:929-936. (Pubitemid 34219010)
18. Waaijer A, Terhaard C, Dehnad H et al. Waiting times for radiotherapy: consequences of volume increase for the TCP in oropharyngeal carcinoma. Radiother Oncol 2003;66:271-276. (Pubitemid 36556045)
19. Huang J, Barbera L, Brouwers M et al. Does delay in starting treatment affect the outcomes of radiotherapy? A systematic review. J Clin Oncol 2003;21:555-563. (Pubitemid 46606487)
20. Mikeljevic J, Haward R, Johnston C et al. Trends in postoperative radiotherapy delay and the effect on survival in breast cancer patients treated with conservation surgery. Br J Cancer 2004;90:1343-1348. (Pubitemid 38586258)
21. Drinkwater KJ, Williams MV. Re-audit of Radiotherapy Waiting Times in the United Kingdom. The Royal College of Radiologists, 2007. Available from: http://rcr.ac.uk/general/pdf/reportukfinal100408.pdf
22. Joint Council for Clinical Oncology. Reducing Delays in Cancer Treatment: Some Targets. 1993, London: The Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of Radiologists. Available from: http://rcr.ac.uk/docs/oncology/pdf/ reducingdelaysincancertreatment.pdf
23. Hourdakis CJ, Boziari A. Dosimetry quality audit of high energy photon beams in greek radiotherapy centers. Radiother Oncol 2008;87:132-141.
24. Leer JWH, Corvera R, Krausb JJAM et al. A quality assurance system based on ISO standards: experience in a radiotherapy department. Radiother Oncol 1995;35:75-81.
25. Hansson U, Johansson KA, Horiot JC et al. Mailed TL dosimetry programme for machine output check and clinical application in EORTC radiotherapy group. Radiother Oncol 1993;29:85-90. (Pubitemid 24007842)
26. Horiot JC, Bemier J, Johansson KA et al. Minimum requirements for quality assurance in radiotherapy. Radiother Oncol 1993;29:103-104. (Pubitemid 24007845)
27. Horiot JC, van der Schueren E, Johansson KA et al. The programme of quality assurance of the EORTC radiotherapy group: a historical overview. Radiother Oncol 1993;29:81-84. (Pubitemid 24007841)
28. Van Dam J, Johansson KA, Bridier A et al. EORTC radiotherapy group quality assurance: mechanical checks and beam alignments of megavoltage equipment. Radiother Oncol 1993;29:91-96. (Pubitemid 24007843)
29. Gupta, A. Best Practices in Auditing. 2004. Cited www.asq.org; Available from: http://qualitypress.asq.org/ perl/catalog.cgi?item=T19011S www.asq.org.
30. Al-Asaf AF. Quality improvement in primary health care. A practical guide. WHO Regional Publications, Eastern Mediterranean Series 26, EdM.Sheikh 2004, Cairo: WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean.
31. European Foundation for Quality Management EFQM. Available from: http://www.efqm.org/partnership-distribution/npo-details.htm.