QUALITY INITIATIVES

Long before any other medical specialty, radiation oncologists, strongly helped by their colleague medical physicists, seriously invested in structural quality control measures. Noteworthy are for instance these initiatives:

The presence of a radiation oncologist and a medical physicist during all treatments;
The nation-wide use of advanced 'record and verify' informatics systems to automate data transfer and the trace exactly what has been done on what patient;
Participation prospective egistries to obtain structured data on obtained results, e.g. the 2013 convention on stereotactic radiotherapy and other advanced radiation techniques;
A reimbursement system that actively stimulates the use of quality-improving techniques. The new version of the reimbursement system ('nomenclature') goes further in this philosophy;
The widespread use of state-of-the art technology, with very high percentages of patients treated with the more advanced techniques like IMRT and IGRT;
The investment in new technology for stereotactic radiotherapy;
The enthusiastic participation in hundreds of multidisciplinary teams and conversations all over the country, assisting medical oncologists and organ specialists in finding more effective and better tolerated treatments;
National collaboration programs led by the 'college of radiotherapy' aiming at increasing quality in a specific frequently performed treatment. After a 'Procare' project for rectal cancer, a 'Procab' project on breast cancer was launched in 2013;
Hosting renowned international organisations active in (radiation)oncology on Belgian soil, and being member of these organisations (Belgians are well represented as members in organisations like ESTRO, EORTC, ECCO, ...);
Offering young radiation oncologists in training the possibility to take part in a comprehensive national training system, organised during Saturday courses. On top of these courses, residential seminars are offered avoiding that individual departments should have to organize this training in a more limited way locally;
Participating in medical research;
With support from the federal government, the installation of a quality control unit in all departments, led by a quality control manager;
The preparation of a national reporting system for accidents and incidents;
... And many other initiatives!

If you would like more information on these initiatives, please contact us via the contact form.

More on quality and safety can be found in the section of this website for medical professionals.