title: Quality assurance in radiotherapy on a national level; experience from Norway: the KVIST initiative.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  In radiotherapy (RT), there are high requirements for quality assurance (QA) in all the steps of the process. Development of QA systems are demanding in terms of financial and human resources. A national QA programme (KVIST) has been established in Norway to facilitate implementation of QA activity on hospital level.
  
  
  METHODS
  The KVIST organisation comprises the KVIST team, the reference group (RG) and the working groups (WGs). The KVIST team is multidisciplinary and are employed in permanent positions. The RG acts as an advisory body for the KVIST team in defining and ranking the priority of projects. Relevant national QA projects are identified in collaboration with the RG, and WGs are established to carry out the various projects.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Several national consensus documents have been prepared by the various WGs. Systems for incident handling and activity reporting have been established and clinical audits have been implemented in Norwegian RT. Guidelines for RT of various diagnoses have also been prepared in collaboration with National Cancer groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The KVIST programme has been very well acknowledged in the Norwegian RT community. It has succeeded in creating a positive attitude towards QA and improved the communication between centres and the various professions.
authors.affiliation: Section for Quality Development in Medical Applications , Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority , Østerås , Norway ; Department of Medical Physics , Oslo University Hospital , The Radium Hospital , Oslo , Norway ; Department of Physics , University of Oslo , Oslo , Norway.
authors.forename: Taran Paulsen
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: Hellebust
authors.affiliation: Section for Quality Development in Medical Applications , Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority , Østerås , Norway.
authors.forename: Ingrid Espe
authors.initials: IE
authors.lastname: Heikkilä
authors.affiliation: Section for Quality Development in Medical Applications , Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority , Østerås , Norway.
authors.forename: Gunilla
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Frykholm
authors.affiliation: Section for Quality Development in Medical Applications , Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority , Østerås , Norway ; Department of Medical Physics , Oslo University Hospital , The Radium Hospital , Oslo , Norway.
authors.forename: Sverre
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Levernes
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology and Medical Physics , Haukeland University Hospital , Bergen , Norway.
authors.forename: Dag Clement
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Johannessen
authors.affiliation: Section for Quality Development in Medical Applications , Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority , Østerås , Norway.
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bjerke
authors.affiliation: Section for Quality Development in Medical Applications , Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority , Østerås , Norway.
authors.forename: Hilde
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Olerud
keywords: multidisciplinary cooperation; national quality assurance activity; radiotherapy