Canis Lupus LLC, a medical device manufacturer and design firm specializing in radiation therapy innovation, announced today it will award an ongoing technology grant to the Medical Dosimetry Program offered at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.
The grant, worth $100,000 per year, will begin with SIU Carbondale’s incoming dosimetry class in August 2013, and will be renewed with each new incoming class. All students and faculty in the program will receive licenses of “Quality Reports [EMR],” a software solution that reads data exported from all commercial radiation therapy planning systems and generates customized, meaningful use EMR reports designed for modern radiation therapy.
The Quality Reports software gives immediate, quantitative reports to medical dosimetrists to gauge their performance in reaching the clinical goals. It is an “enabling technology” that allows dosimetrists to: 1) measure and document performance for each unique treatment plan in comparison to the physician’s goals, 2) mitigate the risk of omission during plan analysis, and 3) trend progress over many treatment plans, enabling and inspiring continual improvement.
Quality Reports is the same technology used for the popular “Plan Challenge” – an annual study conducted by Radiation Oncology Resources (Goshen, IN) in conjunction with the American Association of Medical Dosimetrists (AAMD).
Program Director K. Scott Collins, Ph.D., RT(R)(T), CMD says: “This software will be a great tool to improve the planning skills of our students. It will make them aware of the maximum achievable plan quality and indicate which metrics can be improved. This information will add great value to the learning process.”
Benjamin Nelms, Ph.D, founder of Canis Lupus LLC, adds: “In working with the leadership team at SIU’s program, we agreed it would be great to get the Quality Reports technology into dosimetrists’ hands during their professional training.”
Nelms continues, “Over the past several years, I have had an opportunity to meet a few of the dosimetry students from SIU’s program, and I’ve been impressed by their hunger to learn and improve. They want to hit the ground running when they enter the workforce. I love this attitude, and we want to support and encourage it in any way we can.”
SIU’s Medical Dosimetry Program is a year-long, intensive program consisting of lectures, clinical rotations, group interaction, and preparation for professional certification. Usage of the software will be incorporated not only into the clinical rotations, but also the lectures, as many aspects of modern radiation therapy – such as how machines work, best practices with respect to planning parameters, differences between planning and delivery systems, etc. – are easily explained using the software’s tools and graphics as a backdrop for learning.
Integrating the Quality Reports technology into the curriculum of SIU’s program will further help prepare the students to be highly qualified and confident upon graduation.
About Canis Lupus LLC
Canis Lupus LLC is a privately owned medical device manufacturer and design firm, specializing in radiation therapy innovation. The Canis Lupus mission is to work – through creation, invention, discovery, and collaboration – to meet the needs critical to the future of healthcare. Specifically, to: 1) increase the quality of customized radiation therapy; 2) ensure the safety of radiation therapy; 3) enhance the professional lives of clinicians through useful and intuitive tools; and 4) decrease the cost of healthcare.
About the SIUC Medical Dosimetry Program
The Master of Science Medical Dosimetry program at Southern Illinois University is one of only three graduate degree programs currently offered. It was the third JRCERT accredited program out of seventeen total in the country. The program is offered 100% via distance education through the use of live video conferencing and the Desire2Learn education platform. Students can attend the program from most any location as long as certain criteria are met.