ESTRO 2024 - Abstract Book

S2949

Interdiscplinary - Other

ESTRO 2024

Results:

The pandemic has triggered the implementation of remote work, which has proven to be efficient and an excellent way to optimize resources.

During the first 2-month period, a total of 80 treatment plans were completed of which 42 treatment plans were carried out by the remote planning team.

As for the following 6 months period, a total of 415 plans were completed. Of these plans, 162 plans were completed by the remote planning team, representing 40% of the total workload. All plans were completed meeting all deadlines and clinical objectives were met managing the use of just one TPS workstation. The greatest difficulty of the process, centered on the management of the workstation by the remote planning team, however, through the availability of the local team associated with the high flexibility of schedules on the part of the remote team, it was possible to obtain an excellent time-productivity relationship, achieving the objectives proposed by the RT department, in terms of efficiency.

Conclusion:

The year 2020 was a turning point in the use of remote work methods in most Radiotherapy services, mainly due to the pandemic and the challenges arising from it in terms of access to specialized professionals, which in many cases became difficult not only because of the geographic location or sudden absences, but also due to the variation in the number of patients to be planned. This fact resulted in a large-scale “experiment” in remote dosimetry. And although most planning departments are based on a dynamic interaction between dosimetrists, physicists, and physicians, being sceptical about this paradigm shift, most ended up seeing the potential that this method would bring. The use of remote services allowed this RT department to access highly specialized dosimetrists, thus increasing capacity and efficiency. This radiotherapy department has 2 bunker set, but only one linac, which allowed, alongside with remote treatment planning team, to keep up with demand without interrupting treatment activity. At the same time, the local team took the opportunity to dedicate themselves to intensive training in the new treatment technique, as well as defining other methodologies and procedures to be implemented allowing a seamless treatment’s beginning in the new machine. Though this instance related to replacement of a linac it is proof of concept of how remote planning can enable increased capacity or even bridge gaps in availability of planning resources allowing for ongoing continuous treatment of patients or even initiation of treatment of patients when planning capacity is limited or non-existent.

The remote planning support proved to be a good resource to address any circumstances that impact the ability of local resources to perform the planning being a good asset to complement and support the local team.

Keywords: Capacity, Productivity, Remote Planning,

References:

1. Abdel-Wahab M., Rosenblatt E., Prajoji B. et al. Opportunities in Telemedicine, Lessons learned after COVID-19 and the way into the Future. Journal of Radiation Oncology (2020). Publication Jul.6