Optimization of radiation therapy appointments on linear accelerators for the Centre Intégré de Cancérologie de Laval (CICL).
Cancer screening, diagnosis, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, oncology surgery and palliative care are the services offered by the CICL. The center opened in 2012 treating about 22,000 cancer patients each year with radiation therapy treatment.
The patient trajectory was optimized before the center first opened. Today, they are facing new challenges.
To date, a 20-minute time slot is reserved for patient treatment on a linear accelerator. The fact is that the care duration varies from patient to patient and even between two treatments for the same patient. The goal of this project is to identify factors and constraints that create variation in the care duration and find solutions to optimize this duration to increase the number of treated patients on a daily basis. The project follows a DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control) method:
– Recover relevant data and create indicators
– Analyze data
– Identify leverage points
– Propose concrete solutions
– Simulate, test and compare the solutions
– Improve these solutions with the results of the tests