(Sunday, 7/29/2018) 3:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Room: Exhibit Hall
Purpose: Recent guidelines promote Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) in radiotherapy to enhance safety. However, applying these methods in the clinical setting presents challenges, e.g., treatment team members may be too few or lack of training/experience to accurately perform risk analyses; schedule limitations make it problematic to hold thorough multi-disciplinary meetings; etc. In this environment, the FMEA process needs revision and streamlining. Using Social Networking Analysis concepts, we developed a software platform for risk assessments based on user input (incidents, actions, decisions), which incorporates FMEA in a less resource-intensive way.
Methods: Our platform is engineered to optimize process mapping and checklists through a combination of FMEA, Incident Learning (IL), and Failure Mapping and Corrective Action (FMCA). The user network is centralized to the desired degree, meaning that input from individual members of the risk assessment team is moderated by either a member (highly centralized) or group (less centralized). Online tools were developed to help the moderator(s) process input efficiently. The network can be grouped into teams (e.g., multidisciplinary task groups) at micro or macro levels, and even further clustered to allow efficient multi-institutional collaboration. To test the platform's performance, several online risk assessments were performed by physicists at different clinics, and the resulting data and input were analyzed.
Results: Using online networking, process maps and checklists evolve quickly into fully usable form without physical meetings or building documentation from scratch. Statistical analysis of trial runs demonstrates that all team members made valuable contributions to risk assessment and process mapping. Only a small percentage of members showed interest in performing FMEA: most users prefer to report incidents and/or contribute to process/failure mapping.
Conclusion: Using social networking in conjunction with FMEA, IL, and FMCA in an accessible online platform enhances communication and efficiency, thereby optimizing and streamlining risk assessment team processes.
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