EU 4 - SAMIRA: a European Commission initiative to strengthen quality and safety in imaging

1. To learn about the aims of the EU-REST study.
2. To appreciate problems in education and staffing guidelines of the radiology, radiation oncology and nuclear medicine workforce in Europe.
3. To understand variability in EU-27 countries and how the project may influence the future of the workforce in the EU.

1. To learn that errors can be used to improve processes, systems, and equipment and then reduce the probability of repeating them.
2. To appreciate that there can and should be different incident learning systems (ILS) with different objectives and organisational structures; ILS at the local (departmental or hospital) level, ILS of professional societies and ILS of competent authorities.
3. To understand that although there are various tools for safety management, the use of ILS is a fundamental element that must be effectively implemented to achieve increasingly safer procedures in the use of radiation in medicine.

1. To learn about the background and aims of the BSS equipment study.
2. To appreciate the challenges and possibilities in patient exposure monitoring in radiology, interventional specialities, nuclear medicine, and radiotherapy.
3. To understand the potential difficulties with patient exposure monitoring due to the heterogeneity in Europe and what may be achieved with legislation, standardisation, and dose monitoring systems.

1. To learn about the implementation of Euratom and the EU legal bases concerning the therapeutic uses of radiopharmaceuticals.
2. To appreciate the links and interdependencies between the European pharmaceutical legislations and Euratom radiation protection requirements.
3. To understand potential barriers to implementation, ways to advance a coherent implementation of these requirements for the therapeutic use of radiopharmaceuticals, and that there are quality and safety issues related to the current use and introduction of novel therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals into clinical practice, including requirements for dosimetry, the role of MPEs, the release of patients from the hospital, and management of radioactive waste.

1. To learn about the development of a European strategic research agenda and corresponding roadmap on medical applications of ionising radiation.
2. To appreciate the way that the documents have been developed and that these shall be seen as living documents, which depend on the community’s input.
3. To understand how these documents can be used for fostering individual research efforts and to lobby for research on medical applications of ionising radiation.

1. To learn about the SAMIRA action plan and its three pillars on quality and safety of medical radiation applications, security of supply of medical radioisotopes and innovation and development in these areas.
2. To appreciate the progress made in implementing the SAMIRA action plan, focusing on the quality and safety of radiology.
3. To understand the opportunities offered by different EU programmes to support radiology's quality and safety.