Streamlining Regulatory Activities Within Radiation Therapy Departments Using QATrack+

Abstract

Radiation therapy departments are faced with the challenge of tracking numerous quality control tests as well as monitoring service events affecting radiation therapy treatment units. Service events, in particular, pose a challenge since the clinic must be able to provide evidence to the regulatory body that both the service work and any required follow-up tests were recorded and authorized by the appropriate staff. This article presents an integrated approach to tracking quality control tests and service event logs using QATrack+. The newly developed version of this quality assurance software integrates quality control tracking with the service event log, allowing a direct link between a service event and any initiating routine tests or follow-up tests that are performed. This improves the ability of a licensee to ensure compliance with regulations and permits a simple platform from which to access all machine equipment tests and service events. Furthermore, this improves the ability of a department to assess the service record of equipment and to identify trends in failure modes.

Improving Management and Compliance of Radiation Therapy Linear Accelerator Quality Assurance Program With Automated Tracking Tools

“…The use of software to track post-service QA and service event logging during accreditation has been shown with commercially available QA tracking software. 15 Similar studies have investigated the value of centralizing database. 16 In addition, both in-house and commercial automation QA solutions are available to streamline preparation, measurement, and analysis of QA tasks.…”

“…QA documentation may rely on a single checklist or a spreadsheet 13 , 14 or more-sophisticated record-keeping and compliance tracking systems. 15 , 16 Automated tools have been demonstrated to improve efficiency and effectiveness in many aspects of radiation therapy program QA, 17 , 18 including streamlining LINAC QA processes, measurements, and analysis. 19 , 20 , 21 …”

Commissioning and implementing a Quality Assurance program for dedicated radiation oncology MRI scanners

“…A significant effort was made to automate the data analysis as much as possible through the use of vendor, in‐house or third‐party software. QA data logging and storage was performed using QATrack+, an open source database for managing QA data 29 . Every test contains one or more measurement results that are uploaded in QAtrack+ and monitored over time.…”

“…QA data logging and storage was performed using QATrack+, an open source database for managing QA data. 29 Every test contains one or more measurement results that are uploaded in QAtrack+ and monitored over time. ACR results are also automatically imported in QATrack+ through a Python script using libraries such as Openpyxl.…”