ESTRO 2025 - Abstract Book

S4240

RTT - Education, training, advanced practice and role developments

ESTRO 2025

2379

Mini-Oral Technological advancements in radiotherapy: The perspective of the Dutch Radiotherapy Technologists Thijs Ackermans 1 , Paul Cremers 1 , Janne Dingemans 1 , Carol Ou 2 , Marcel Verheij 3 , Maria Jacobs 1,2 1 Department of Radiation Oncology (Maastro), GROW Research Institute for Oncology and Reproduction, Maastricht University Medical Centre+, Maastricht, Netherlands. 2 Tilburg School of Economics and Management, Department of Management, Tilburg, Netherlands. 3 Department of Radiation Oncology, Radboud Institute for Health Sciences, Nijmegen, Netherlands Purpose/Objective: Technological advancements (e.g. AI for automatic planning and contouring) have the potential to counteract the RTT shortages, RTT’s burnout levels and RTT turnover rates [1]. However, it is unknown if RTTs currently experience technostress caused by the extensive use of digital tools and how the expected change in responsibilities due to automation impacts the RTTs key job performance indicators (e.g. job engagement, job satisfaction and turnover intentions). The purpose of the present study is to investigate the impact of the currently used digital tools and the expected digital transformation on the RTT’s technostress and key job performance indicators. Material/Methods: A survey was developed and distributed to RTTs across all Dutch radiotherapy centers resulting in 265 respondents (Female: 85%). The survey included validated questionnaires [2-4] on the use of digital tools, technostress and job performance indicators. Their relationship was assessed using linear regression models and a paired samples T-test (p<0.05). Control variables included patient characteristics, job autonomy and innovative work behavior. Results: The number of digital tools used by the RTT had no effect on the RTT’s key job performance indicators and was not related to technostress. Technostress had a negative impact (p<0.05) on the key job performance indicators. However, less than 7% of the variance could be explained by the technostress, whereas other factors like job autonomy had a greater influence on this relation. When presented with the future perspective of their job role, the RTTs reported small declines in the key job performance indicators (Figure 1).