Quality Management Audits in Nuclear Medicine at Ramathibodi Hospital

Abstract

Quality management is referred as a system that aim to improve the quality of services in order to enhancing customer satisfaction. In nuclear medicine, as it is a healthcare services, the customer groups are included the referring physician and the patients. Additionally, nuclear medicine is used of unsealed radiation sources, henceforth, the quality aspects are included the safety of patient and radiation workers. In nuclear medicine, the multidisciplinary team of nuclear medicine physician, nurse, medical physicist, technologist and radiopharmacist are involved in the services and the quality management team. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has specifically constructed and developed the quality management for nuclear medicine which is also called Quality Management Audits in Nuclear Medicine Practices (QUANUM). The process is consisted of a review and verification of questionnaires in the series of checklists. The QUANUM is encouraged nuclear medicine centre to be audited by the IAEA expert team after they undergo the self-assessment. The audit process is patient oriented, systematic, and outcome based and are aimed at improving all aspects of nuclear medicine services.