TG 100 REPORT Saiful Huq, PhD, Pittsburgh, PA, Peter Dunscombe, PhD, Calgary, AB, Canada
Co-Chairs for the Work Group on the Implementation of TG 100

The Work Group on the Implementation of TG 100 continues to meet regularly by teleconference. Amongst our activities is organizing TG 100 Workshops which recently included a full day event immediately preceding the Spring Clinical Meeting in New Orleans and a second Workshop as part of the Florida Chapter's Spring Meeting. From the evaluations we have received so far, participants have found the experience valuable and particularly enjoyed the hands-on exercise and discussion components which together make up more than half of the Workshop. While we have been successful at attracting physicists to our Workshops, try as we may, we have been unable to attract our colleagues from radiation oncology, dosimetry, therapy and other key disciplines in any significant numbers. However, we are reaching out to other organizations in an attempt to enlist their support for this initiative. Just recently we have been in touch with the ASTRO leadership with one aim being a higher profile for TG 100 in the re-write of Safety is No Accident which is currently underway. We are also starting communications with accrediting bodies, such as ASTRO's APeX, with a view to having prospective risk and quality management acknowledged as one trait of a high quality clinical program. The Working Group is well aware of the challenges entailed in implementing this radically new approach to providing safe, high-quality care to patients exposed to radiation for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes. To that end the Working Group is actively discussing not only an on-line implementation guide but also a repository of completed process maps, failure modes and effects analyses and fault tree analyses. As many groups within AAPM have similar or overlapping needs, the organization is actively discussing a more structured approach to content management in general. Once we have figured out the design specifications and a preliminary budget, we will contribute our thoughts to what a new Content Management System might look like. At this time, we don't really know what the uptake of TG-100's methodology is across the community so we will be approaching participants at previous Workshops to find out whether or not they have been able to implement the tools and, importantly, what the impediments have been.

Finally, the Working Group does have a modest budget to support Workshops held in conjunction with Chapter meetings. AAPM will support travel for one of two or more speakers if the Chapter can cover other expenses.

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