The impact of COVID-19 workflow changes on radiation oncology incident reporting.
J Appl Clin Med Phys
; 23(11): e13742, 2022 Nov.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-35932177
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
The Ottawa Hospital's Radiation Oncology program maintains the Incident Learning System (ILS)-a quality assurance program that consists of report submissions of errors and near misses arising from all major domains of radiation. In March 2020, the department adopted workflow changes to optimize patient and provider safety during the COVID-19 pandemic.PURPOSE:
In this study, we analyzed the number and type of ILS submissions pre- and postpandemic precautions to assess the impact of COVID-19-related workflow changes.METHODS:
ILS data was collected over six one-year time periods between March 2016 and March 2021. For all time periods, the number of ILS submissions were counted. Each ILS submission was analyzed for the specific treatment domain from which it arose and its root cause, explaining the impetus for the error or near miss.RESULTS:
Since the onset of COVID-19-related workflow changes, the total number of ILS submissions have reduced by approximately 25%. Similarly, there were 30% fewer ILS submissions per number of treatment courses compared to prepandemic data. There was also an increase in the proportion of "treatment planning" ILS submissions and a 50% reduction in the proportion of "decision to treat" ILS submissions compared to previous years. Root cause analysis revealed there were more incidents attributable to "poor, incomplete, or unclear documentation" during the pandemic year.CONCLUSIONS:
COVID-19 workflow changes were associated with fewer ILS submissions, but a relative increase in submissions stemming from poor documentation and communication. It is imperative to analyze ILS submission data, particularly in a changing work environment, as it highlights the potential and realized mistakes that impact patient and staff safety.Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Oncología por Radiación
/
COVID-19
Tipo de estudio:
Etiology_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
Límite:
Humans
Idioma:
En
Revista:
J Appl Clin Med Phys
Asunto de la revista:
BIOFISICA
Año:
2022
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Canadá
Pais de publicación:
EEUU
/
ESTADOS UNIDOS
/
ESTADOS UNIDOS DA AMERICA
/
EUA
/
UNITED STATES
/
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
/
US
/
USA