RadMachine Evolution: Tailoring Diagnostic QC Workflows for Peak Performance

When creating RadMachine, we understood that although physicists perform very similar sets of tests for their QC program, the specific needs of that QC program can vary.  With RadMachine's latest updates, we strived to ensure your specific needs are not just met but exceeded. Let's explore the enhancements that make RadMachine an indispensable tool for maintaining peak program efficiency.

Site Specific Dashboard Links

To enhance the RadMachine Dashboard, our goal was to simplify access to equipment groups.  For physicists or administrators who oversee one site or multiple sites, we added the ability to view and review QA, Assignments, Faults, and Service Events directly from the Dashboard. For a site that has many units and pieces of equipment to keep track of, manually filtering through the Review QA or Perform QA page can be cumbersome and time consuming. To address this, we’ve added a drop-down menu feature, providing quick navigation to pre-filtered pages, making it significantly easier to manage and review equipment status and tasks. 

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These new links make it easy to navigate to specific pages, such as one displaying all QC that is available to be reviewed and, at a glance, identifying any items that may need further investigation or upcoming tasks across multiple devices within a site, along with their most recent submission. This new tool streamlines access to the data you want to see, with little to no configuration required.

Custom Test Result Labeling

While users familiar with RadMachine may have grown accustomed to our default labels   (“OK”, “TOL”, and “ACT”) and colors, we recognized their limitations to accurately indicate the outcome of test status when performing QA and generating reports. To tackle this, we’ve introduced customizable labeling. This feature allows users to create communication preferences that cater to accreditation standards, regional requirements, or center preferences.  
For example, in the images below,  the default “ X-Ray “in Use” light is failing to operate, resulting in a test failure denoted by Red and the word “ACT,” which may not be clear to the person performing or reviewing the test.

Failure example in Daily QC

Now, users with sufficient rights can access the Pass/Fail Labels page, to customize these labels and colors, enhancing clarity for both QA processes and report generation.  

By changing the labels to fit the needs of the program to more descriptive terms, such as Fail for AC activities and Failure for reporting, along with corresponding color changes, we’ve made the test outcomes more understandable at every level. 

Pass/Fail Labels in RadMachine

On this page, I can adjust the labeling and coloring of tests to fit the needs of my program.

Color Coding Tests

Here, I’ve changed the short labeling to appear as “Fail” when performing QC, and the “Long Labeling” to appear as “Failure” in the reports workspace. I’ve also adjusted the coloring of the label to orange.

The test now provides better clarity in my test results for anyone performing QC, and in my reports, the results of the test are presented more clearly as well.

Custom Tests

RadMachine’s strength lies in its customization. If new requirements arise that aren’t currently present in RadMachine, users are able to create new tests to accommodate your needs. In addition, and thanks to the integration of PyLinac, RadMachine will also stay on the forefront with the latest analysis options available from that library. In this example, we had some users that needed analysis of their nuclear medicine images in an easy to use format. Fortunately, the latest version of PyLinac provided the tools necessary for them to analyze a variety of images for their requisite tests.

Q: Wait, did you say Nuclear Medicine? 

A: Yes! RadMachine is fully equipped for the demands of nuclear medicine, offering robust solutions for both therapy and diagnostic processes. To discover how RadMachine has been implemented successfully at GenesisCare UK , click here. 

Here they simply need to upload the DCM image required to perform the analysis, or have it automatically uploaded by the RadMachine Local Agent, and the analysis is performed and recorded.

In another example, RadMachine helps users to automate the Four Quadrant Spatial Resolution analysis for their gamma cameras.

Four Quadrant Spatial Resolution (Nuclear Medicine Test)

Conclusion

As we continue to sculpt RadMachine into an ever more adaptable and intuitive tool, our commitment is to ensure that your QC program is not merely supported but empowered to excel (pun intended). In this journey of RadMachine’s quick evolution, every enhancement, every new feature we introduce is a step towards a future where your QC workflows are not just managed but transformed, enabling you to manage QC data from simple to complex departments with innovation and precision.