Quality Assurance

The hallmark of radiation oncology at Upstate Medical University is our commitment to quality assurance. Every patient who seeks our help has his or her situation reviewed by the attending physician, residents, nurses, physics, and dosimetry staff to ensure of highest level of care is attained.

The steps we follow to ensure success include:

Morning rounds: each morning, the staff meets to discuss patients seen the previous day. Physicians present the cases and their recommendations for peer review.

Chart rounds: each week, the entire staff meets to review the beam films and progress of each patient under treatment.

Plan checks: before a treatment course begins, a physicist checks the accuracy of dose calculations and the details of the setup instructions.

Chart checks: each week, a physicist reviews the chart of every patient under treatment for continued agreement with the treatment plan.

Treatment machine checks: each morning, the radiation output from the linear accelerators is measured and checked for consistency. Physicists use additional equipment at monthly and annual intervals to maintain the calibrations.

Patient dose measurements: the radiation dose applied to individual patients is measured with Diodes to verify the calculations.

Beam films: when the treatment begins and at least weekly thereafter, films are taken with the treatment beams to verify the positioning of the treatment field and the patient to ensure the treatment is delivered to the correct location.

Verification computer system: for each beam every treatment, a dedicated computer system verifies the detailed settings as set by the therapists against the original plan. All of our sites utilize either the Varian Varis System or the IMPAC Record and Verify System.

Monthly Quality Improvement Meeting: these meetings are attended by a nurse, therapist, dosimetrist, physicist, physician, administrators, and support staff to ensure the highest level of patient care are maintain and or formulate corrective action if they are not.