TH‐C‐BRB‐02: Professional — SAM

Currently, a common initiative in many fields is quality improvement. This endeavor is especially prominent in the medical community with concerns on patient safety and reduction of medical errors. As part of its certification oversight, the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) has made QI one of the four sections of its Maintenance of Certification (MOC) process. This is particularly relevant to those medical physicists with time limited ABR certificates or for other ABR Diplomates voluntarily enrolled in the MOC program. One of the key aspects of The ABR expectation for Practice Quality Improvement (PQI), Part IV of the ABR MOC program, is that Diplomates provide evidence of an ongoing program of improvement of practice either as an individual or within the system the individual is employed. For physicists, this may seem somewhat nebulous due to the many duties and responsibilities in the clinical realm. For diagnostic physicists, this may seem even more undefined, especially for consultants. As a beginning dialogue related to PQI, suggestions for projects appropriate for physicists are presented. Another method for fulfillment of the PQI section is participation in society based PQI programs. Such programs are under development within AAPM and details on a program for diagnostic imaging physicists is presented.Objectives: At the conclusion of the presentation, an individual will1. Gain knowledge of the basic aspects of PQI as pertain to physicists.2. Learn about examples of projects that would be acceptable for demonstration of PQI for physicists.3. Learn about the development of a society based program for PQI for diagnostic imaging physicists within the AAPM.