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

PURPOSE

Although quality assurance (QA) is crucial in radiation oncology departments, substantial efforts are required to monitor and ensure compliance to high standards. This work aims to analyze the impact of implementing a centralized and automated tracking dashboard on compliance and variance observed in radiation therapy QA results for linear accelerators.

METHODS AND MATERIALS

The study was performed in a large academic center with 7 linear accelerators. An in-house QA Dashboard was implemented in 2019 with design specifications including automated monitoring and visualization of QA progress, ease of use and accessibility, ease of integration, adaptability to new technologies, and facilitation of automated reminders. Monthly QA data were collected between 2016 and 2022 to analyze compliance pre- and post-dashboard implementation. Compliance was characterized as the percentage of tests completed on time. In addition, variance trends for linear accelerator dosimetry measurements and imaging were analyzed over 7 years.

RESULTS

In total, 76,066 records were analyzed. Of these records, 73,187 QA measurements were completed on time. Overall QA compliance increased from 75% in 2016 to >99% in 2019 after successful implementation of the QA Dashboard. The main improvement was observed for tests that were implemented more recently, eg, imaging QA and formal recording of daily QA review by physicists. The coefficient of variation was reduced by approximately a factor of 2 for imaging QA after the implementation of the QA Dashboard. For recorded dosimetry measurements, no substantial change in variance was observed.

CONCLUSIONS

Implementation of the QA Dashboard resulted in a distinct increase in QA compliance. Reduction in the variance in QA measurements was observed for all imaging modalities. These findings demonstrate high impact of automated tracking QA tools on improved compliance and accuracy of QA.