Impact of Oncology Information Systems on Radiation Oncology Productivity

Abstract

Oncology Information Systems (OIS) is one of the key components in most modern radiation oncology departments worldwide. The functions of OIS have evolved far beyond radiation delivery record and verify systems. It has become the workflow managing system and data reporting system for either research or operation needs. At the institution, we have adapted each a fully integrated OIS and an open OIS for the two Radiotherapy Centres (RTC) under our wing. Our aims are to evaluate the impact of the 2 OIS on our clinical work productivity. To illustrate the impact of both OIS between different stakeholders with both systems, a workflow chart was created based on a patient’s journey at the institution where both RTC adopted an identical workflow. 100 cases of patient data were used to simulate the clinical workload, evaluation of productivity were calculated based on the simulation. The 100 cases included 50 3D-conventional cases, 34 IMRT/IGRT cases, 8 Stereotactic cases and 8 Motion management cases. The patient’s journey were divided into 7 steps to assist us in understanding the designated staff group interaction with the OIS along with the type and quality of the interaction. Time required for each step in the workflow were used to compute the overall time effort required to complete the 100 cases.Abstract 3000Differences in the total overall time were evaluated as a surrogate of productivityStep 1First Consultation at Radiation OncologyStep 2CT simulation and 1st Day Treatment appointment BookingsStep 3CT simulationStep 4Radiotherapy Treatment PlanningStep 5Data information transfer for delivery of radiation treatmentStep 6Quality Assurance checksStep 7Start of Radiotherapy treatment and doctors review Open table in a new tab Differences were found in the productivity when using the two different OIS, especially in Steps 2, 5 and 7. For the 100 cases data collection, we encountered an average overall time savings of 29.1 minutes for each case by using the fully integrated OIS as compared to the open OIS. The total time savings to complete the 100 cases were 2910 minutes which was further translated into 28% productivity improvements in the scenario projected. Both OIS were able to fulfil our clinical operation needs. However, based on the 28% increased productivity, it showed that the fully integrated OIS system had positive gains for the user. Other aspects in the OIS such as data reporting capabilities to support research or operation statistics were not included in the evaluation, which could also contribute to overall clinical work productivity.