Abstract A successful, meaningful quality assurance program begins with the director of the nuclear medicine laboratory and propagates down the chain of responsibility to the technologist responsible for operation of individual instruments.
Every person has a role in the process.
Written protocols for periodic evaluation and testing of the equipment must be followed. These protocols may include daily operational tests, weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly performance tests and initial acceptance testing of new instruments. Nuclear medicine instrumentation is changing rapidly and recommended testing intervals and required procedures are changing, also. As professionals we should be aware of these changes and be ready to adapt our protocols to the changing conditions. There are many documents available on instrument quality assurance.