ESTRO 2024 - Abstract Book

S2789

Interdisciplinary - Health economics & health services research

ESTRO 2024

3. Zubizarreta EH, Fidarova E, Healy B, Rosenblatt E. Need for radiotherapy in low and middle income countries – the silent crisis continues. Clin Oncol (R Coll Radiol). 2015 Feb;27(2):107-14. doi: 10.1016/j.clon.2014.10.006. Epub 2014 Nov 15. PMID: 25455407. 4. Viani GA, Gouveia AG, Bratti VF, Pavoni JF, Sullivan R, Hopman WM, Booth CM, Aggarwal A, Hanna TP, Moraes FY. Prioritising locations for radiotherapy equipment in Brazil: a cross- sectional, population-based study and development of a LINAC shortage index. Lancet Oncol. 2022 Apr;23(4):531-539. doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(22)00123 1. Epub 2022 Mar 14. PMID: 35298907.

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Digital Poster

Investigating workflow changes in radiotherapy and their impact on the availability of treatments

Caroline Adestam Minnhagen 1 , Mruga Gurjar 2 , Jesper Lindberg 1,2,3 , Caroline Olsson 1,3

1 Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, Gothenburg, Sweden. 2 University of Gothenburg, Sahlgrenska Academy, Institute of Clinical Sciences, Medical Radiation Sciences, Gothenburg, Sweden. 3 Regional Cancer Centre West, Western Sweden Healthcare Region, Gothenburg, Sweden

Purpose/Objective:

External radiotherapy (RT) is a complex process consisting of multiple sub-steps involving several different professional groups in healthcare. Following the continuous development in RT, it is necessary for a department to handle different kinds of events without limiting the availability of treatments and to maintain quality in all steps. Events can be related to technical changes in software or hardware, organizational changes involving staff and resources as well as patient-specific changes such as updated fractionation patterns or referral routines. Patient-related data and statistics on equipment utilization can be found in IT-systems for RT, but information about workflow changes over time is not routinely documented. The purpose of this study was, therefore, to collect information about workflow changes and investigate how they affect avaliability of RT.

Material/Methods:

Key persons (n=22) working at the Sahlgrenska University Hospital (SU), RT department in Sweden were approached in 2023 and asked to share their experiences of events in the RT process during 2015-2021. The RT department at SU consists of two sites and have a catchment area covering approximately 20% of the Swedish population.The study participants represented staff from different occupational groups: senior oncologists (n=9), medical physicists (n=6) and oncology nurses/RTTs (n=7). A two-step approach was used where the study participants first were introduced to the study by e-mail in 2023 and asked to provide information on events closest to his/her work area and competence as well as his/her own experiences of these during the studied period. If agreeing to participate, a