The department
Femke van der Sloot has been working in the department for two years as a clinical physics employee. Kay van Nielen has been working in the same department for 23 years, first as a lab technician, now as a technician. Among other things, he performs the annual maintenance on the various accelerators, both at the Rotterdam and Dordrecht locations. The entire radiotherapy team works at both locations, except for the lab technicians.
Femke and Kay first came into contact with RaySafe equipment when another device and the software were not adequate enough. At that time, they borrowed the RaySafe X2 a number of times from the Radiology department. This worked to their satisfaction. After some research on Femke’s part, they proceeded to purchase it, which even led to a second model being purchased half a year later – one for each location. They work with both the CT and R/F sensors. The biggest advantage of the RaySafe? It works plug & play.
Training
Kay and Femke are both well trained by all manufacturers to guarantee thorough and safe maintenance. One of the manufacturers states that an eight-day training is required. This is the same training they give to their own engineers.
In addition to these manufacturer trainings, you spend a year working with another employee of the radiotherapy department before you are allowed to work independently.
Accelerator maintenance
Today we are observing a part of the maintenance on an accelerator. The maintenance consists of four parts, of which they perform three themselves. The other part is performed by the manufacturer. Which part this is varies.
The RaySafe X2 with R/F sensor is placed on the edge of the table and aligned with the help of a laser. In this case, the treatment room contains a number of cameras, making it very easy to read the values remotely. This way you don’t have to connect the laptop to it.
With the accelerator, a CT scan is normally performed first to determine whether the patient is positioned exactly correctly for the treatment. The patient is positioned accurately to then receive radiotherapy for about 10 to 12 minutes. The measurement we are doing now takes about 12 seconds. This measurement determines whether what you set is actually what comes out. The measurements that are performed are set out in a protocol drawn up by the manufacturer in question.
In conclusion…
The visit to the radiotherapy department in Dordrecht clearly shows how important reliable and user-friendly measuring equipment is in a clinical environment. Thanks to the RaySafe X2, Femke, Kay and their colleagues can quickly and accurately check whether the equipment is doing what it is supposed to do. An essential part of safe and effective patient-oriented work.
With their thorough training, shared expertise and the right tools in hand, the team contributes daily to the high standards within the Erasmus MC. It’s great to see how technology and teamwork come together in practice.
