ESTRO 2024 - Abstract Book

S5842

RTT - Education, training, advanced practice and role developments

ESTRO 2024

oncology : journal of the European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology, 116(1), 38–44. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.radonc.2015.04.018

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2819

Mini-Oral

‘Global think’ for Advanced Practice in Radiation Therapy

Nicole Harnett 1,2 , Natalie Rozanec 3,2

1 Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Radiation Medicine Program, Toronto, Canada. 2 University of Toronto, Department of Radiation Oncology, Toronto, Canada. 3 Southlake Regional Health Centre, Stronach Regional Cancer Centre, Newmarket, Canada

Purpose/Objective:

Advanced radiotherapy practice (APRT) has been expanding in a variety of jurisdictions around the world. Until recently, that work and growth took place in silos. Outputs and publications, while demonstrating the positive impacts of these roles on the local delivery of radiotherapy care, are not usually generalizable beyond the local context. Developing forums for international, multi-centre partnerships have the potential to improve the quality and safety of radiation therapy delivery and patient care, while also improving global access to radiation therapy treatment (IAEA, 2022). While mixed opinions exist in the literature about the value of communities of practice (CoP), defined as “a group of people 'who share a concern, a set of problems, or a passion about a topic, and who deepen their knowledge and expertise on this area by interacting on an ongoing basis'” (Wenger, 2002; Pyrko, 2017), an international CoP (iCoP) was formed to try to overcome the silo-effect of current work and facilitate both knowledge exchange and collaboration.

The benefits of an iCoP for APRT include, but are not limited to:

• Establishing a clearer understanding of what APRT is and how it can be implemented optimally in existing systems to improve patient outcomes.

• Production of data that can be used by decision makers to understand how to add APRT to the current team to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of RT care in new systems.

• To facilitate and support how APRT can have an impact on the global access to RT crisis, among other non traditional incarnations of APRT.