Quality Improvements in Radiation Oncology

This Capstone Project was done to make quality improvements to data management and patient care for the department of Radiation Oncology at Parkview Medical Center in Pueblo, Colorado. The first goal of this two-phase project was to convert the nomenclature in the platforms of Radformation and ARIA/Eclipse to be TG-263 compliant. The second goal of this two-phase project was to investigate variable patient computerized tomography DICOM data set body types and delineate which therapeutic radiation beam configuration best reduced treatment times for the treatment of breast / chest wall cancer; while at the same time maintaining plan quality.

“This project has proven to me that what I learned in the HIMT program, combined with my current skills/career in healthcare, an upward protectory in career potential.” From a student who worked with the Physics Department at Parkview Comprehensive Cancer Center in Pueblo, Colorado.”

“I initially sought a degree in HIMT out of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay because I wanted a Bachelor’s degree to prop up my career in Medical Dosimetry. Medical Dosimetry is a technical field that heavily relies on Information Technology for its day-to-day operation. It just seemed like a logical direction to go; and I was right! Saying that, I found that it broadened my view of Information Technology. In fact, the term Health Information Management and Technology means something different to me now. It’s not just the management of Health Information, it’s also the management of people and planning for the future. There are just so many directions you can go with this degree. For me, I’m going to continue to use it to build my career in Medical Dosimetry. My capstone project reflected that. I used my HIMT knowledge to update the nomenclature in all our platforms to TG-263. TG-263 was developed by the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) to form a consensus position on nomenclature for use in clinical trials, data-pooling initiatives, population-based studies, and routine clinical care. The Radiation Oncology community has been tasked with making each individual entity TG-263 compliant. I also did a clinical trial comparing different beam arrangement planned on different DICOM (Computerized axial Tomography) data sets. These therapeutic radiation treatment plans for breast/chest-wall cancer patients were all done to find which plans could be done in less time; and still maintain expectable quality. This project will continue the road of continuous quality improvement along with my TG-263 project. I think that is my biggest takeaways form this project. That if your passionate about your work, you will always be vigilant to make sure your projects updated and on course.”