title: RO-ILS: Radiation Oncology Incident Learning System: A report from the first year of experience.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Incident learning is a critical tool to improve patient safety. The Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005 established essential legal protections to allow for the collection and analysis of medical incidents nationwide.
  
  
  METHODS
  Working with a federally listed patient safety organization (PSO), the American Society for Radiation Oncology and the American Association of Physicists in Medicine established RO-ILS: Radiation Oncology Incident Learning System (RO-ILS). This paper provides an overview of the RO-ILS background, development, structure, and workflow, as well as examples of preliminary data and lessons learned. RO-ILS is actively collecting, analyzing, and reporting patient safety events.
  
  
  RESULTS
  As of February 24, 2015, 46 institutions have signed contracts with Clarity PSO, with 33 contracts pending. Of these, 27 sites have entered 739 patient safety events into local database space, with 358 events (48%) pushed to the national database.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  To establish an optimal safety culture, radiation oncology departments should establish formal systems for incident learning that include participation in a nationwide incident learning program such as RO-ILS.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Medicine and Applied Sciences, UC San Diego Moores Comprehensive Cancer Center, San Diego, California. Electronic address: dhoopes@ucsd.edu.
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Hoopes
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Adam P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Dicker
authors.affiliation: American Society for Radiation Oncology, Fairfax, Virginia.
authors.forename: Nadine L
authors.initials: NL
authors.lastname: Eads
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Mayo Clinic Arizona, Scottsdale, Arizona.
authors.forename: Gary A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Ezzell
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California.
authors.forename: Benedick A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Fraass
authors.affiliation: American Association of Medical Dosimetrists, Herndon, Virginia.
authors.forename: Theresa M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Kwiatkowski
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
authors.forename: Kathy
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lash
authors.affiliation: Compass Oncology, Portland, Oregon.
authors.forename: Gregory A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Patton
authors.affiliation: Clarity Group, Inc, Chicago, Illinois.
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Piotrowski
authors.affiliation: American Society for Radiation Oncology, Fairfax, Virginia.
authors.forename: Cindy
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tomlinson
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.
authors.forename: Eric C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Ford
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D018787:Radiation Oncology / Q000592:standards*; D017751:Safety Management