IAEA Publishes Dedicated Guide on Dose Management Systems

In providing comprehensive guidance on the implementation, operation and optimization of dose management systems, the IAEA's new publication covers:

• roles and responsibilities of clinical staff in a medical imaging department;
• metrics used in dose management systems;
• the importance of information systems in healthcare;
• how clinical workflows affect DMS operations;
• technical aspects - from software and hardware architecture to system functionalities - and setup processes;
• key requirements to efficiently operate and integrate dose management systems within clinical environments;
• quality assurance processes for acceptance, commissioning and setup; and
• practical challenges, including from software upgrades and the addition of new medical imaging modalities.

Through clinical scenarios, the publication also demonstrates the wide range of capabilities and real-world applications dose management systems can offer. Advances such as machine learning and artificial intelligence can further enhance these systems' potential in enhancing workflow efficiency, improving patient outcomes and ensuring both safety and regulatory compliance. Since high-quality data and continuous improvement are key for realizing this potential, the IAEA's guidance identifies several strategies to strengthen the functionality of dose management systems.

"The coming decade will see dose management systems becoming essential infrastructure in automating quality assurance, accelerating learning and strengthening protection for every patient as their use moves from retrospective reporting to proactive support on patient-centred decision-making," said Ioannis Tsalafoutas, a medical physicist at Hamad Medical Corporation, the IAEA's Rays of Hope Anchor Centre in Qatar, and one of the expert contributors to the publication.

The publication has been endorsed by the American Association of Physicists in Medicine, the Asia-Oceania Federation of Organizations for Medical Physics, the European Federation of Organisations for Medical Physics, the Federation of African Medical Physics Organisations, the International Organization for Medical Physics, the International Society of Radiographers and Radiological Technologists, the Latin American Medical Physics Association and the South East Asian Federation of Organizations for Medical Physics.