Harnessing and Safeguarding Automation in Clinical Practice: The Medical Physicist's Role
Description
Automation has become integral to modern radiation oncology—including image registration, contouring, planning, adaptive workflows, and quality assurance (QA). While these systems improve efficiency, they also introduce new vulnerabilities when automation fails unexpectedly, when it fails unseen, or critically, when users over-trust automated results. As automation expands into the clinic, the medical physicist’s role as an independent safeguard becomes vital. This symposium will explore how physicists can maintain oversight and uphold patient safety in an increasingly automated clinical environment. The discussion will center on three key perspectives: 1.