Towards a decision support system for radiotherapy business continuity in a pandemic crisis

Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Authors

The business continuity of radiotherapy practice is of utmost importance for a safe, effective and efficient fight against cancer. Patients rely on uninterrupted therapies even under adverse conditions. The COVID-19 pandemic has caught many radio- therapy institutions unprepared. Centers worldwide had to find ways to master the extraordinary challenges instantly. However, the lack of knowledge, specific guidelines and mitigation strategies exposed radiotherapy centres to unpredictable risks. Intelligent information systems can support the management of severe incidents. The aim of our research was to develop a decision support system that shall help to maintain safe, sustainable and efficient radiotherapy services in pandemic situa- tions. In this work, we present a text-based conversational agent that informs about mitigation measures for radiotherapy practice during a pandemic crisis.
Original languageEnglish
JournalJournal of Decision Systems
Volume31
Issue number1-2
Pages (from-to)40-67
Number of pages28
ISSN1246-0125
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 03.04.2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank Mr. Holger Wirtz for his valuable input from the radiotherapy practice and all participants for their feedback on the conversational agent. We also express our deepest gratitude to all radiotherapy professionals for their continuous efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

    Research areas

  • Engineering
  • COVID-19, Chatbot, Decision Support System, Radiotherapy

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