The National Oncological Hospital in Sofia, Bulgaria, hosted the IAEA Regional Workshop on Patient Safety in Radiotherapy, organized under the Regional project RER/9/135 on Strengthening Radiation Protection of Patients and Medical Exposure Control, 12-16 June 2017.
Thirty two qualified radiotherapy medical physicist representing 22 countries from the European region participated in this one week meeting that provided a platform for sharing experiences, challenges and good practices in achieving safety and quality in radiotherapy. The program included discussions on the factors responsible for the safe delivery of radiotherapy services, information on lessons learned from radiotherapy incidents and accidents that have occurred in the past, practical exercises and interactive discussions. Participants presented the status of risk assessment in their hospital and country, measures to prevent unintended and accidental exposure, reporting and learning from unintended events, and distribution of responsibilities for patient safety.
The discussion was facilitated by three IAEA experts, who presented methods for retrospective and prospective risk analysis in radiotherapy and approaches for improving safety culture. The workshop advanced the participants knowledge of the critical aspects of radiotherapy safety learning and implementation. A session was organized on the voluntary reporting of incidents and near-misses using the IAEA Safety Reporting and Learning System SAFRON. The last day was devoted to the preparation of an action plan for improving patient safety when delivering high quality radiotherapy services in participating Member States.