Title:

Checklists: A Safety Tool for the Medical Physicist

Speaker:

Ms. Michelle Wells

Affiliation:

Lead Physicist, Radiation Oncology, Piedmont Healthcare

When:

Thursday, March 3, 2022 at 11:00:00 AM   Add to Calendar

Where:

Boggs Building, Room 3-47

Host:

Dan Kotlyar
dbrown360@gatech.edu
4043855502

Abstract

Medical physics is characterized by highly complex and dynamic processes. As a result of this complexity, processes are susceptible to errors which can lead to patient harm. The practicing medical physicist should have a set of basic tools to aid in error reduction. Checklists are a simple quality tools that can reduce human errors. At the conclusion of the presentation, the attendee will be able to understand the role of checklists in error management, to recognize the importance of culture for checklist success, to identify the checklist team, to review checklist development and implementation, and to understand checklist usage. The session will be a review of Medical Physics Practice Guideline 4.a: Development, implementation, use and maintenance of safety checklists published in the Journal of Applied Clinical Medical Physics (JACMP). Volume 22, Number 6 (2021).

Biography

An employee of Piedmont Healthcare, Michelle C. Wells leads the technical operations and staffing of eight radiation oncology centers and one Gamma Knife center. Michelle is passionate about continuous process improvement to advance patient outcomes and to increase the technical expertise of staff. Under her leadership, Piedmont successfully obtained both ACR and ASTRO Apex accreditation certifications. Her vision for a physics residency program came to fruition in 2019. Board certified in both Therapeutic Medical Physics, Michelle was elected as a Fellow of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine in July 2021. She graduated from Francis Marion University in Florence, South Carolina with a dual bachelor’s degree in physics and mathematics and earned a Master of Science degree in Health Physics As a Presidential Fellow at Georgia Institute of Technology. A native of Latta, South Carolina, Michelle is avid community volunteer with Atlanta organizations who promote leadership and STEM education. She and her husband (William) love attending theater, watching football, and traveling.