TU‐C‐301‐01: Going Paperless in a Radiation Oncology Clinic

Abstract

There are numerous important advantages of going paperless in a radiotherapy clinic. This process can be challenging in many ways. In this session, we share practical details on how a clinic can go paperless. In the first presentation, I will describe this process with Elekta Mosaiq software. The second presentation covers the process with Varian Aria software.The MosaiQ software V2.0 supports three radiotherapy departments, two infusion centers and a specialty wound care clinic at Sharp Healthcare system. All the facilities are within 20 miles from each other. Prior to initiating the paperless process, we acquired a crucial software program, Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro with multiple licenses. We also purchased Fujitsu fi‐ 6130 document scanners, another critical component in our success.The first section to go paperless was the Physics/Dosimetry area. All treatment plans from ADAC Pinnacle and BrainLab BrainScan are converted to PDF files, electronically signed by the planner and stored in MosaiQ under Diagnosis and Interventions. These documents can then be approved by the radiation oncologist and physicist prior to treatment. We also created Word templates in the document section to support billing and special procedures, such as physics consults, special treatment procedure notes, and QA documents.Making full use of the Quality Check List feature was next. Simulation orders, dosimetry tasks, new patient QA, chart checks, chart rounds and close‐out QA of electronic charts are all performed electronically through MosaiQ. For each of these steps, a Quality Check List (QCL) was created and employed so that no critical procedures go un‐documented.Billing has been electronic using HL7 interface for many years at Sharp Healthcare.Finally, the outside reports such as imaging and surgical notes, past H & P, nursing notes, etc, from applications like Cerner, Synapse, are transferred to MosaiQ using the “Print to File” function of Acrobat 9 Pro. Any remaining documents can be scanned and saved as PDF in the patientˈs EMR.In our experience, the first 5% and last 5% of going paperless took the longest. The process has been painless as well as fun. If there is one factor above all, though, to ensure success, it is having the staff on‐board. Everyone, from the radiation oncologists to the front office personnel, recognizes the value in eliminating paper charts in the department, and has helped to make it happen seamlessly and successfully.Learning objectives are:1. understand the benefit of going paperless in radiotherapy clinic2. understand the steps required and optimal sequence to transition from paper to electronic medical records3. understand the value of safeguards such as redundancies, double‐ checks, etc that should be placed for safe delivery of radiation