Implementation of a Novel Chart Rounds Application to Facilitate Peer Review in a Virtual Academic Environment

Purpose: Peer review in the form of chart rounds is a critical component of quality assurance and safety in radiation therapy treatments. Radiation therapy departments have undergone significant changes that impose challenges to meaningful review, including institutional growth and increasing use of virtual environment. We discuss the implementation of a novel chart rounds (NCR) format and application adapted to modern peer review needs at a single high-volume multisite National Cancer Institute designated cancer center.

Methods and materials: A working group was created to improve upon the prior institutional chart rounds format (standard chart rounds or SCR). Using a novel in-house application and format redesign, an NCR was created and implemented to accomplish stated goals. Data regarding the SCR and NCR system were then extracted for review.

Results: SCR consisted of 2- 90-minute weekly sessions held to review plans across all disease sites, review of 49 plans per hour on average. NCR uses 1-hour long sessions divided by disease site, enabling additional time to be spent per patient (11 plans per hour on average) and more robust discussion. The NCR application is able to automate a list of plans requiring peer review from the institutional treatment planning system. The novel application incorporates features that enable efficient and accurate review of plans in the virtual setting across multiple sites. A systematic scoring system is integrated into the application to record feedback. Over 5 months of use of the NCR, 1160 plans have been reviewed with 143 scored as requiring minor changes, 32 requiring major changes and 307 with comments. Major changes triggered treatment replan. Feedback from scoring is incorporated into physician workflow to ensure changes are addressed.

Conclusion: The presented NCR format and application enables standardized and highly reliable peer review of radiation therapy plans that is robust across a variety of complex planning scenarios and could be implemented globally.