title: Accident prevention in day-to-day clinical radiation therapy practice.
abstract: Nearly 50-60% of cancer patients will undergo radiotherapy at some point in their treatment. Around 85% of the world's population live in developing countries served by approximately 30% of the world's radiotherapy facilities. It has been suggested that 1 megavoltage unit is required for every 500 new treatment courses per year, while others estimate that 1 megavoltage unit is needed for every 300 new treatments. However, these numbers do not necessarily take into account the development of new technologies and treatment modalities, which are more time- and resource-intensive. The International Commission on Radiological Protection has emphasised that 'purchasing new equipment without a concomitant effort on education and training and on a programme of quality assurance is dangerous', and 'the decision to implement a new technology for radiation therapy should be based on a thorough evaluation of the expected benefits, rather than being driven by the technology itself'. It is estimated that the rate of serious mistakes could be as high as 0.2%, which is several orders of magnitude higher than the rate reported for commercial aviation. So, how safe is safe? It can be stated that the development of a culture of safety is critical and requires efforts in education and training, which could prove difficult in overloaded departments.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Radiomedicina, Av Americo vespucio Norte 1314 Vitacura, 6671407 Santiago, Chile. mbaeza@rdc.cl
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Baeza
mesh_terms: D000056:Accident Prevention / Q000592:standards*; D003906:Developing Countries; D006801:Humans; D061214:Patient Safety / Q000592:standards*; D011832:Radiation Injuries / Q000517:prevention & control*; D018787:Radiation Oncology / Q000592:standards*; D061106:Radiotherapy Setup Errors / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000517:prevention & control