ESTRO 2024 - Abstract Book

S5832

RTT - Education, training, advanced practice and role developments

ESTRO 2024

2385

Digital Poster

The use of a think aloud methodology for teaching radiotherapy treatment planning

Heather Lawrence, Paul Lansdowne, Andrea Maggs

University of the West of England, School of Health and Social Wellbeing, Bristol, United Kingdom

Purpose/Objective:

Clinical reasoning is an essential component to competent health care practice. Despite this, there is limited guidance available to support educators to foster its development in therapeutic radiographers. A think aloud method has been described in the literature to support the development of clinical reasoning in healthcare disciplines such as nursing, and more recently in diagnostic radiographers, but its use in radiotherapy remains unexplored. Radiotherapy treatment planning has historically proven challenging to teach effectively at the authors’ University. Treatment planning is often viewed as outside of the common workflow of treatment radiographers, and those qualified as radiographers do not often go on to become clinical technologists/dosimetrists. This perceived disconnection between treatment planning and treatment delivery represents a challenge for application of clinical reasoning for student radiographers. Traditionally, at the University concerned, treatment planning skills have been facilitated using a workbook that guides students through a series of steps to develop a radiotherapy treatment plan. A criticism of this method is that it teaches students to follow a pre-determined process rather than developing understanding and encouraging the growth of clinical reasoning skills to justify the process followed. Radiotherapy educators should explore the development of teaching strategies that encourage the development of reflection, hypothesizing, judging, and the use of logic to develop clinical reasoning skills. The aim of this poster is to describe the development and implementation of teaching workshops and supporting materials for the workbooks, using a think aloud method, incorporating active participation, to develop clinical reasoning in a structured treatment planning activity.

Material/Methods:

A think aloud teaching and learning approach was used in conjunction with written materials to develop structured treatment planning activities, culminating in students independently creating a VMAT treatment plan. The workshops were developed to encourage students to think ahead, monitor the impact of decisions made, and evaluate the plan produced. The use of deductive and inducive logic was encouraged to apply the knowledge taught in the classroom to develop a reasonable solution to a clinical scenario.

Results:

The workshops and supportive workbooks were successfully developed and have been incorporated into the module delivery.