ArtFlow
ArtFlow service involves the design, initial testing, deployment, documentation, and ongoing testing, improvement, and adaptation of custom software that automates machine Quality Assurance and treatment planning workflows. This includes, for example:
- Automating the collection (from the Record and Verify system if that is where it is stored), management, and analysis of imaging and other measurement data per TG-142.
- The design, initial testing, and ongoing testing, improvement, and adaptation of scripts enabled by Treatment Planning Systems.
- Automating the population of reports based on data either parsed from other documents, such as the plan report, or queried from the Record and Verify database. The reports being populated can be customized to the clinic’s needs and can, for example, include plots of trends of various parameters.
- Automating hand calcs (often used for emergent treatments).
Institute for Safe Medical Practices' ranking of Quality Management tools based on effectiveness
The greatest efficacy lies in forcing functions,
such as interlocks and physical barriers that prevent actions
inconsistent with the goals of a process. Automation, for
example, can eliminate errors due to transcription or entry
of out-of-range values in preparing a plan for treatment.1
- Huq, M. Saiful, et al. "The report of Task Group 100 of the AAPM: Application of risk analysis methods to radiation therapy quality management." Medical physics 43.7 (2016): 4209-4262.