Comprehensive Auditing in Nuclear Medicine Through the International Atomic Energy Agency Quality Management Audits in Nuclear Medicine (QUANUM) Program. Part 1: the QUANUM Program and Methodology.

Details

Serval ID
serval:BIB_3FB0D630BFEE
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Publication sub-type
Review (review): journal as complete as possible of one specific subject, written based on exhaustive analyses from published work.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
Comprehensive Auditing in Nuclear Medicine Through the International Atomic Energy Agency Quality Management Audits in Nuclear Medicine (QUANUM) Program. Part 1: the QUANUM Program and Methodology.
Journal
Seminars in nuclear medicine
Author(s)
Dondi M., Torres L., Marengo M., Massardo T., Mishani E., Van Zyl Ellmann A., Solanki K., Bischof Delaloye A., Lobato E.E., Miller R.N., Paez D., Pascual T.
ISSN
1558-4623 (Electronic)
ISSN-L
0001-2998
Publication state
Published
Issued date
11/2017
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
47
Number
6
Pages
680-686
Language
english
Notes
Publication types: Journal Article ; Review
Publication Status: ppublish
Abstract
An effective management system that integrates quality management is essential for a modern nuclear medicine practice. The Nuclear Medicine and Diagnostic Imaging Section of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has the mission of supporting nuclear medicine practice in low- and middle-income countries and of helping them introduce it in their health-care system, when not yet present. The experience gathered over several years has shown diversified levels of development and varying degrees of quality of practice, among others because of limited professional networking and limited or no opportunities for exchange of experiences. Those findings triggered the development of a program named Quality Management Audits in Nuclear Medicine (QUANUM), aimed at improving the standards of NM practice in low- and middle-income countries to internationally accepted standards through the introduction of a culture of quality management and systematic auditing programs. QUANUM takes into account the diversity of nuclear medicine services around the world and multidisciplinary contributions to the practice. Those contributions include clinical, technical, radiopharmaceutical, and medical physics procedures. Aspects of radiation safety and patient protection are also integral to the process. Such an approach ensures consistency in providing safe services of superior quality to patients. The level of conformance is assessed using standards based on publications of the IAEA and the International Commission on Radiological Protection, and guidelines from scientific societies such as Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) and European Association of Nuclear Medicine (EANM). Following QUANUM guidelines and by means of a specific assessment tool developed by the IAEA, auditors, both internal and external, will be able to evaluate the level of conformance. Nonconformances will then be prioritized and recommendations will be provided during an exit briefing. The same tool could then be applied to assess any improvement after corrective actions are taken. This is the first comprehensive audit program in nuclear medicine that helps evaluate managerial aspects, safety of patients and workers, clinical practice, and radiopharmacy, and, above all, keeps them under control all together, with the intention of continuous improvement.
Keywords
Humans, International Agencies, Management Audit, Nuclear Energy, Nuclear Medicine/standards, Radionuclide Imaging
Pubmed
Web of science
Create date
17/05/2018 20:47
Last modification date
20/08/2019 14:36
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