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Variation in work‐up and treatment procedures among types of radiation therapy facilities: The patterns of care process survey for three head and neck sites
Author(s) -
Maclean Charles J.,
Davis Lawrence W.,
Herring David F.,
Powers William E.,
Kramer Simon
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.052
H-Index - 304
eISSN - 1097-0142
pISSN - 0008-543X
DOI - 10.1002/1097-0142(19810915)48:6<1346::aid-cncr2820480616>3.0.co;2-i
Subject(s) - medicine , head and neck , work (physics) , duration (music) , process (computing) , medical physics , operations management , computer science , surgery , mechanical engineering , literature , engineering , economics , art , operating system
The PCS Process Survey analyzed radiation therapy facilities to evaluate procedures in work‐up and treatment of patients with cancer of the larynx, tongue, and nasopharynx. Types of facilities are compared to establish bench marks in performance of work‐up and treatment procedures that can be used as a foundation for upgrading care and for adjusting studies to follow this paper. A statistical method is demonstrated that provides a “signature” of relative performance over a standardized set of procedural criteria. Facilities with resident training programs perform nearly all of these procedures much more consistently than do nontraining facilities. Facilities with full‐time head therapists perform most procedures more consistently than do facilities with part‐time heads. A third comparison of large versus small facilities shows that among training facilities size has no effect and that among full‐time facilities size has a slight effect. Among part‐time facilities, however, smaller ones fail to perform most procedures more often than larger facilities. The size difference is confounded with the full‐time/part‐time difference because part‐time facilities are on the average smaller than facilities with full‐time head therapists.