title: Insight gained from responses to surveys on reference dosimetry practices.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To present the results and discuss potential insights gained through surveys on reference dosimetry practices.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two surveys were sent to medical physicists to learn about the current state of reference dosimetry practices at radiation oncology clinics worldwide. A short survey designed to maximize response rate was made publicly available and distributed via the AAPM website and a medical physics list server. Another, much more involved survey, was sent to a smaller group of physicists to gain insight on detailed dosimetry practices. The questions were diverse, covering reference dosimetry practices on topics like measurements required for beam quality specification, the actual measurement of absorbed dose and ancillary equipment required like electrometers and environment monitoring measurements.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 190 respondents to the short survey and seven respondents to the detailed survey. The diversity of responses indicates nonuniformity in reference dosimetry practices and differences in interpretation of reference dosimetry protocols.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results of these surveys offer insight on clinical reference dosimetry practices and will be useful in identifying current and future needs for reference dosimetry.
authors.affiliation: Measurement Science and Standards, National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Bryan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Muir
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA.
authors.forename: Wesley
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Culberson
authors.affiliation: Medical Physics Unit, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Medicine and Applied Sciences, UC San Diego School of Medicine, La Jolla, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Gwe-Ya
authors.initials: GY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Henry Ford Health System, Detroit, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Yimei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Sung-Woo
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Physics, UT M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lowenstein
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Arman
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sarfehnia
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Virginia Health System, Charlottesville, VA, USA.
authors.forename: Jeffrey
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Siebers
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Therapy, Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, Houston, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Naresh
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tolani
mesh_terms: D002173:Cancer Care Facilities / Q000592:standards*; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D011874:Radiometry / Q000592:standards*; D012015:Reference Standards
keywords: best practice; ionization chambers; reference dosimetry