ESTRO 2024 - Abstract Book

S2716

Interdisciplinary - Education in radiation therapy

ESTRO 2024

3147

Digital Poster

The Young ESTRO-junior Tunisian Radiation Oncology Society(STORj) collaboration: Challenge taken up?

Zeineb Naimi 1 , Hela Hammemi 2 , Najla Fourati 3 , Nadia Bouzid 4 , Wael Kaabia 3

1 Abderrahmen Mami Hospital Ariana, Radiation Oncology Department, Ariana, Tunisia. 2 Ennasr Clinic, Radiation Oncology Department, Ariana, Tunisia. 3 Habib Bourguiba Hospital, Radiation Oncology Department, Sfax, Tunisia. 4 Farhat Hached Hospital, Radiation Oncology Department, Sousse, Tunisia

Purpose/Objective:

The STOR junior (STORj) is the young radiotherapy committee in Tunisia. This committee was founded in 2019 under the hospices of the Tunisian Society of Radiation Oncology (STOR) and aimed to improve young STOR members access to a high level of educational and training programs through effective collaboration with young international societies (Young ESTRO, SFjRO…). This study aimed to report Tunisian radiation oncologists perception of STORj activity over the past 4 years and its potential impact on educational and career choice perspectives.

Material/Methods:

An anonymous self-reported 44-item survey was distributed to all STOR members online via emails and social medias. The questionnaire evaluated workshops organized by the STORj in several aspects (overall organisation, allocated time, technical materials, experts availability, relevance to learning objectives and clinical practice and fees affordability) as well as its perceived impact on educational and career choice perspectives.

Results:

A total of 30 responses fully complete and available for analysis were received. The mean age of the study cohort was 36.5 years. The sex ratio was 0.36 with a majority of female participants. The participants included 1 medical physicist, 11 radiation oncology residents, 18 radiation oncologists of whom 6 were private practice physicians. Twenty (66.3%) participants were YoungESTRO members through the collaboration program STORj-YoungESTRO. Ten participants were not aware of the Young ESTRO membership benefits. Reduction of registration fees to ESTRO school and ESTRO congress were the main motivation for YoungESTRO membership (66.7%). Over the past 4 years, STORj organized 6 planning/contouring workshops and 1 statistical analysis workshop. The overall participation rate to STORj workshops was 56.2%. High participation rate were observed for STORj-ESTROschool contouring workshops (≥75%). On a 0-5 scale, evaluation scores were ≥4 for all workshops, with a mean value of 4.32. Participants were particularly satisfied with STORj-ESTRO endorsed contouring workshops with evaluation scores of 4.47, 4.75 and 4.78, respectively for prostate/brain cancers, breast/head and neck cancers, endometrial/rectal cancers workshops. Clinical areas covered by STORj workshops were “useful” according to 90% of participants. Technical dedicated materials were “appropriate” according to 80% of participants, with FALCON contouring platform use being slightly easier when compared to Proknow (93.3% vs 80%). The allocated time, expert’s availability and overall organisation were satisfying for more than 80% of the surveyed. Registration fees were affordable according to 80% of respondents. All participant reported a substantial benefit of STORj workshops with “new technical skills development” and “updating knowledge and technical skills” in 60% and 36.7% of cases.