13 tips for smooth transition for clinical pp

how should we introduce ourselves to the patients if the therapist doesn't?

my name is __ and i am helping the therapist this month

how can we make the patient our top priority?

• introduce yourself

• use pts name

• acknowledge pts in the hallway and lobby

• time out procedures

• listen to what the pt says

• pt as part of in-room conversation

• monitor pt during tx

• privacy

• qualify management efforts

why is it important to be very accurate for Tx?

control of the disease depends on it and consequences of treatment are affected by it

what are some topics of control of disease that depends on being accurate

miss target, underdose target, overdose target

is it better to underexpose or over expose a patient?

underexpose because you can always add more but cannot take back radiation

what is precision

a measurement of how close a series of measurements are to one another

what is accuracy

how close a measurement is to the true value

what rotates around the pt during tx

gantry

what is the name of the thing the pt lays on

couch

what is pendant

handheld control for the couch and gantry that is connected to a cord on the couch

what is the field light

located in the treatment head and simulates the field by illuminating the area

what does ODI stand for

optic distance indicator

what is the ODI

rangefinder or ruler of light

what is the drive stand connected to

gantry

does the drive stand move

no

what is the gantry angle

rotates 180 degrees, gantry cannot continually rotate in 360 degree motion

what simulation do we use

CT sim

what is side panel control

couch control

what does it mean to “drive”

the primary operator of the linac

what does it mean to beam on

actually delivering the tx

couch vertical

up and down

couch lateral

right and left

couch longitudinal

in and out

couch angle

floor swing around movement

what is indexing

clamping in masks or accessories in the couch

what is isocenter

point of intersection of the three axes of rotation of the tx unit

what are the 3 axes of rotation

gantry, collimation, and base of couch

which axis is vertical couch movements

z

which axis is lateral couch movements

x

which axis is longitudinal couch movements

y

why is accurate positioning of pt and gantry critical

for reproducibility of tx

what is pitch

table tilted with feet down slightly; chest/head elevated above pelvis

what is roll

rt buttock elevated off table more than Lt

what is a yaw

pt pivoted with head towards and feet towards right of table

what is the purpose of the bolus

to bring the tx dose closer to the skin

examples of Tx accessories

prone pillow, vac bag, wing board, ring, breast board

how many of MLCs are there

160

portal IDs are based on what?

entrance, not exit

what are the 4 cardinal angles

0, 90, 180, 270

any angle that is not a cardinal angle is considered what?

oblique

who is part of the radiation Tx team?

radiation oncologist, medical physicist, medical dosimetrist, radiation therapist, radiation oncology nurse

things you must not do at clinic

• hide a mistake

• show disrespect

• get involved with drama

• test dress code policy

• test attendance policy

• fail to gives a heads up if there is an issue

• forget that we are guest