(Press-News.org) The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) has issued a new white paper, "Enhancing the role of case-oriented peer review to improve quality and safety in radiation oncology: Executive Summary," that recommends increased peer review within the radiation therapy treatment process and among members of the radiation oncology team in order to increase quality assurance and safety, according to the manuscript published as an article in press online in Practical Radiation Oncology (PRO), the official clinical practice journal of ASTRO. The executive summary and supplemental material are available online immediately as open-access articles (http://www.practicalradonc.org) and will be published in a 2013 print edition of PRO.
Commissioned by ASTRO's Board of Directors as part of ASTRO's Target Safely campaign, the white paper focuses on the vital role of patient-specific peer review throughout many areas within radiation therapy and how peer review related to professional decisions made by members of the radiation oncology team might improve patient safety and quality of care. The report details suggested targets for peer review throughout the evaluation, planning and treatment processes. Importantly, the report prioritizes the targets that are most likely to have a meaningful impact on patient outcome, e.g., the decision to include radiation as part of the multi-modality approach; imaging/immobilization technique; image segmentation; planning and optimization; plan preparation; and treatment set-up. The paper identifies the potential benefits of the peer review process and recommends methods to overcome possible barriers to peer review, particularly for small, single-provider centers, such as online virtual networking tools and other technologies and forums that provide opportunities for the "peer review-at-a-distance" paradigm.
"This white paper focuses on peer review for medical decision-making and technical expertise, for which there has been little guidance previously," said Lawrence B. Marks, MD, FASTRO, the Dr. Sidney K. Simon Distinguished Professor of Oncology Research and chairman of the department of radiation oncology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "Peer review ideally should be a routine component of clinical practice and our residency training programs. With strong leadership, clearly defined goals and guidelines, and dedicated time and resources, the peer review process can foster a practice environment that builds collaborative relationships among members of the treatment team, enhances our culture of safety within radiation oncology and reaffirms to patients our commitment to safety and quality of care."
The full text document (Supplemental Material) was approved by the ASTRO Board of Directors on September 11, 2012, and has been endorsed by the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), American Association of Medical Dosimetrists (AAMD) and the American Society of Radiologic Technologists (ASRT). It has also been reviewed and accepted by the American College of Radiology's (ACR) Commission on Radiation Oncology. This white paper is related to other published reports in the ASTRO white paper series on patient safety, including those on intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT).
INFORMATION:
The study's authors are Lawrence B. Marks, MD, FASTRO, Robert D. Adams, EdD, Todd Pawlicki, PhD, Albert L. Blumberg, MD, David Hoopes, MD, Michael D. Brundage, MD, and Benedick A. Fraass, PhD, FASTRO. Disclosures are noted in the Executive Summary and in the Supplemental Material.
For the complete text and the supplemental material, contact Michelle Kirkwood, 703-286-1600, press@astro.org. To learn more about PRO, visit http://www.practicalradonc.org.
ABOUT ASTRO
ASTRO is the premier radiation oncology society in the world, with more than 10,000 members who are physicians, nurses, biologist, physicists, radiation therapists, dosimetrists and other health care professionals that specialize in treating patients with radiation therapies. As the leading organization in radiation oncology, the Society is dedicated to improving patient care through professional education and training, support for clinical practice and health policy standards, advancement of science and research, and advocacy. ASTRO publishes two medical journals, International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics (http://www.redjournal.org) and Practical Radiation Oncology (http://www.practicalradonc.org); developed and maintains an extensive patient website, http://www.rtanswers.org; and created the Radiation Oncology Institute (http://www.roinstitute.com), a non-profit foundation to support research and education efforts around the world that enhance and confirm the critical role of radiation therapy in improving cancer treatment. To learn more about ASTRO, visit http://www.astro.org.
END
Martin Gartzman sat in his dentist's waiting room last fall when he read a study in Education Next that nearly brought him to tears.
A decade ago, in his former position as chief math and science officer for Chicago Public Schools, Gartzman spearheaded an attempt to decrease ninth-grade algebra failure rates, an issue he calls "an incredibly vexing problem." His idea was to provide extra time for struggling students by having them take two consecutive periods of algebra.
Gartzman had been under the impression that the double-dose algebra program he had instituted had ...
Though we all desire relief -- from stress, work, or pain -- little is known about the specific emotions underlying relief. New research from the Association for Psychological Science explores the psychological mechanisms associated with relief that occurs after the removal of pain, also known as pain offset relief.
This new research shows that healthy individuals and individuals with a history of self-harm display similar levels of relief when pain is removed, which suggests that pain offset relief may be a natural mechanism that helps us to regulate our emotions.
Feeling ...
Turning on new satellite instruments is like opening new eyes. This week, the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) released its first images of Earth, collected at 1:40 p.m. EDT on March 18. The first image shows the meeting of the Great Plains with the Front Ranges of the Rocky Mountains in Wyoming and Colorado. The natural-color image shows the green coniferous forest of the mountains coming down to the dormant brown plains. The cities of Cheyenne, Fort Collins, Loveland, Longmont, Boulder and Denver string out from north to south. Popcorn clouds dot the plains while ...
Teaching bystander Cardiac Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) strategically to the general public offers the greatest potential to make the biggest overall impact on survival in out of hospital cardiac arrests in Europe, reported a main session on Resuscitation Science at the European Society of Cardiology's EuroHeart Care Congress, which took place in Glasgow, 22 to 23 March, 2013.
"The reality is that four out of five cardiac arrests happen at home, and unless the public are trained in resuscitation many people die before emergency services get to them," said Mary Hannon. ...
Yoga and acupressure could both play an important role in helping patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). Two abstracts presented at the at the European Society of Cardiology's EuroHeart Care Congress, which takes place in Glasgow, 22 to 23 March, 2013, show the potential for medical yoga¹ and acupressure², in addition to pharmacological therapies, to reduce blood pressure and heart rates in patients with AF. In a third abstract³, a survey found that complementary and alternative therapies (CATs), were widely used by patients attending cardiology clinics, raising concerns ...
Deprivation represents the "elephant in the room" with regard to cardiovascular disease (CVD), and health care professionals have an important role to play in tackling the problem, delegates heard at a special plenary session opening the EuroHeart Care Congress in Glasgow, Scotland, 22 March to 23 March 2013. The session heard how Scotland, a country considered to have the highest rates of heart disease in Western Europe, has recently taken action to address the CVD health inequalities that exist between affluent and deprived communities.
Mr Michael Matheson, the Public ...
CHICAGO – In a new study presented today at the 2013 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), researchers reviewed existing literature on smoking and the healing of fractures involving long bones (bones that are longer than they are wide).
The analysis of data from 20 studies found an overall 2.3 times higher risk of nonunion (bones that do not heal properly) in smokers. Similarly, for all fractures, the average time to fracture healing was longer for smokers (32 weeks) than nonsmokers (25.1 weeks).
The review illustrates the effects ...
CHICAGO — In addition to improving life quality and diminishing pain, total hip replacement (THR) is associated with reduced mortality, heart failure, depression and diabetes rates in Medicare patients with osteoarthritis, according to a new study presented today at the 2013 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS). The procedure also is cost effective with the 7-year costs of THR only $6,366 higher than the cost of treating an osteoarthritis patient for hip pain without THR.
"The study has demonstrated that THR confers a potential long-term ...
CHICAGO – In a study, presented today at the 2013 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), researchers obtained and compared the hospital purchasing records from 45 academic medical centers on the unit costs and volume of spinal products – pedicle screws (PS), anterior cervical plates (ACP) and posterior interbody cages – purchased from a total of seven vendors.
Among the results:
PS had a mean cost of $878, with a range of $400 to $1,843 per patient;
ACP had a mean cost of $1,068, with a range of $540 to $2,388; and,
cages, $2,975, ...
WASHINGTON, D.C.--Pit latrines are one of the most common human excreta disposal systems globally, and their use is on the rise as countries aim to meet the sanitation-related target of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Strong evidence supports the use of these basic toilets as a way to improve human health. However, improperly designed pit latrines can actually allow disease-causing microbes or other contaminants to leach into the groundwater. The contaminated water puts people, and especially children, at risk of developing potentially life-threatening diarrheal ...
