Q-Pro: a quality control management system for medical equipment.

Q-Pro is an application for quality control (QC) and inspection of medical equipment. The system has been designed on the basis of a broad requirements analysis, contributed by clinical engineers from several European countries and with a focus on current and forthcoming regulatory requirements concerning the quality control and risk management for medical equipment. Q-Pro comprises a generalized application, providing the necessary flexibility to accommodate the different degrees of difficulty and specialization in creating or customizing QC protocols, carrying out inspections and managing collected data. The system incorporates a tool library for QC protocol design, widely used multimedia as well as a local database for protocol and inventory data archiving. The paper presents a detailed account of the system context of use, design and functionality.

An integrated system for the production of field shaping devices in radiotherapy.

A system has been developed in our department that simplifies the production processes of field shaping devices in radiotherapy, integrating an image grabbing and processing facility at a radiotherapy simulator and an automated block cutter. The data acquisition subsystem captures images, processes and corrects them for pincushion distortions, creates a composite radiograph, records user defined contours of blocks and exports data to the block cutter controller. A robotic subsystem drives and controls the polystyrene cutting unit. The system has been experimentally evaluated. Errors in contour definition were found to be less than 1 mm for a broad range of gantry angles and not exceeding 1.5 mm for those gantry orientations that present maximum magnetic field related image intensifier distortion, while the automated block cutter is capable of cutting out contours in polystyrene with an accuracy comparable to that of commercially available systems. The system is expected to contribute to the overall improvement of radiotherapy processes, particularly in low budget radiotherapy departments, introducing improvements in accuracy and efficiency at minimum costs.

A protocol building software tool for medical device quality control tests.

Q-Pro is an application for Quality Control and Inspection of Medical Devices. General system requirements include friendly and comprehensive graphical environment and proper, quick, easy and intuitive user interface. Functions such as, a tool library for protocol design widely used multimedia, as well as, a support of a local database for protocol and inventory data archiving are provided by the system. In order to serve the different categories of users, involved in Quality Control procedures, the system has been split into three modules of different functionality and complexity, each of which can work as a stand-alone application. The implementation of protocols and use of the software functions, as well as, the user interface itself have been proved by the evaluators to be clear and intuitive. The software seems to adapt easily to different kinds of Quality Control procedures and objectives. Q-Pro effectively supports and enhances the processes to attain a highly tuned, professional, responsive and effective quality control and preventive maintenance procedures for biomedical equipment management.