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“This accreditation is a testament to the hard work of every single member of our department,” said Howard Sandler, MD, chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology and the Ronald H. Bloom Family Chair in Cancer Therapeutics at Cedars-Sinai. “It shows our dedication to patient safety and to delivering top-notch cancer care.”
To qualify, the department met or exceeded more than 200 quality standards in areas ranging from staff training and equipment testing and maintenance to physician documentation and emergency planning, said Stephen Miller, director of the Breast Center and Radiation Oncology at Cedars-Sinai. Instrumental in the process were Indrin Chetty, PhD, vice chair of Physics, and John DeMarco, PhD, chief of Clinical Physics, Miller said.
The accreditation program is a rigorous multistep process during which a radiation oncology practice is evaluated by a team that includes a radiation oncologist and a medical physicist. The practice must demonstrate its safety and quality processes and show that it adheres to patient-centered care by promoting effective communication, coordinated treatments and strong patient engagement.
“We created more than 60 new policies and procedures in a variety of areas during this process,” Miller said. “Perhaps the most important focus has been on maintaining and continuously improving our culture of safety, because the safety of our patients and staff comes first. We also created a much more robust patient-education process to ensure that patients are aware of what to expect during and following treatment.”
The accreditation for Radiation Oncology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and Cedars-Sinai Radiation Oncology Tarzana extends through November 2027.
“Achieving this accreditation has been a key priority for our department,” Sandler said. “Pursuing it has brought our multidisciplinary team together in new ways and allowed us to focus on ensuring that the needed policies, procedures and resources are in place so that we are continuously delivering excellent care to our patients.”
Read more on the Cedars-Sinai Blog: Radiation—Your Questions Answered
