TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2012//
TI  - Accident prevention in day-to-day clinical radiation therapy practice
JO  - Annals of the ICRP
A1  - Baeza, M.
SP  - 179
EP  - 187
VL  - 41
IS  - 3-4
N2  - Nearly 50-60% of cancer patients will undergo radiotherapy at some point in their treatment. Around 85% of the world's population live in developing countries served by approximately 30% of the world's radiotherapy facilities. It has been suggested that 1 megavoltage unit is required for every 500 new treatment courses per year, while others estimate that 1 megavoltage unit is needed for every 300 new treatments. However, these numbers do not necessarily take into account the development of new technologies and treatment modalities, which are more time- and resource-intensive. The International Commission on Radiological Protection has emphasised that 'purchasing new equipment without a concomitant effort on education and training and on a programme of quality assurance is dangerous', and 'the decision to implement a new technology for radiation therapy should be based on a thorough evaluation of the expected benefits, rather than being driven by the technology itself'. It is estimated that the rate of serious mistakes could be as high as 0.2%, which is several orders of magnitude higher than the rate reported for commercial aviation. So, how safe is safe? It can be stated that the development of a culture of safety is critical and requires efforts in education and training, which could prove difficult in overloaded departments.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0146-6453
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.icrp.2012.06.001
ID  - ref1
ER  -