ESTRO 38 Abstract book

S902 ESTRO 38

results. See table 1 below for a results summary. Surveys formed the greatest proportion of relevant manuscripts identified (n=62). The surveys were of trainees (n=32), trainers (n=11), both trainees and trainers (n=16) or were multidisciplinary (n=3). Conclusion Although studied since the emergence of Oncology as a specialty in the 1950s, there is a paucity of qualitative and quantitative research examining radiotherapy learning. Medical education is becoming a more popular focus in radiation oncology but no study has been designed to comprehensively assess the current status. A majority of the literature identified reports results of observational, local or national surveys with a tightly defined scope. The results of the search results indicate that variation has a major impact between different curriculum areas, within hospitals, within and between countries and over time. The important contributing factors were captured, as was the impact of suboptimal training. Emerging educational approaches to radiotherapy training were also proposed. EP-1679 Modern radiotherapy learning: a qualitative study of trainer and trainee views G. Walls 1 , G. Hanna 1 , S. McAleer 2 1 Queen's University Belfast, Centre for Cancer Research & Cell Biology, Belfast, United Kingdom ; 2 Queen's University Belfast, Centre for Medical Education, Belfast, United Kingdom Purpose or Objective Radiotherapy technology and postgraduate medical training have benefitted from considerable advances in recent decades. Trainees are expected to attain the required competencies over a period of five years using a mix of experiential learning, formal postgraduate teaching, self-directed learning and peer learning. Developing skills in radiotherapy relies on workplace- based learning in particular, and Radiation/Clinical Oncology is a recognised craft specialty where the apprenticeship model of education is applicable. The process of learning radiotherapy in its current form has not been comprehensively described, and it was postulated that a more accurate insight would be gained by including both stakeholders involved in the radiotherapy learning process. Material and Methods Five Clinical Oncology trainers and five Clinical Oncology trainees at a regional Cancer Centre were invited to undertake semi-structured interviews regarding their personal accounts of modern radiotherapy learning. All participants were treated as equal co-investors in the process of radiotherapy learning with the common ultimate aim of passing radiotherapy skills from trainers to trainees. Interviews lasted between 13 and 32 minutes. Following transcription, interpretative phenomenological analysis was performed. Results Trainee subjects had completed a median of 3 years of training, trainers had completed training for a median of 9 years, and 60% study participants female. With the increasing maturity of Clinical Oncology as a discipline, treatments are becoming more complex and cancer centres are becoming more busy, to the detriment of the apprenticeship model of learning. There is more onus on the trainee to navigate more advanced techniques in today’s more rigorously structured training programme, whilst adapting to the increasingly time-pressured working environment. Moreover, insufficient confidence restricts new trainees. Despite this task, standardised, intra-centre factors are under-represented in the mandatory training requirements and owing to poor compatibility, the interface with the curriculum, ePortfolio, has not been fully engaged. The feedback on which competency-based training relies could be optimised, and increased both trainer and trainee commitment to radiotherapy learning

intermediate (shoulder; n= 930), and high (mostly trochanteric bursa and hip, occasionally spine and sacroiliac joint; n= 248). The endpoints (hematological malignancies) were searched for by computer linkage with the hospital information system (the General Hospital of Lippe is the only oncological center for more than 350 0000 inhabitants). The rate of hematological malignancies has been assigned to the different dose groups. Results Median follow-up was 8.8 years (range: 0 - 22.7 years). In the zero dose group, the rates for all hematological malignancies, only leukemia, and only leukemia except chronic lymphocytic leukemia were 4 / 1839 (0.8%), 5 / 1839 (0.3%), and 4 / 1839 (0.2%). In the intermediate dose group (n= 929), the corresponding values were 11 / 930 (1.2%), 3 / 930 (0.3%), and 2 / 930 (0.2%). In the highest dose group (n= 248), corresponding values were 4 / 248 (1.6%), 2 / 248 (0.8%), and 1 / 248 (0.4%). The differences between the dose groups were not significantly different (chi-squared test). 332 (11 %) solid malignancies were detected. Conclusion No statistical evidence was provided in this cohort that a higher x-ray dose in the red bone marrow increases hematologic malignancies after low-dose radiotherapy of benign disease in middle-aged and older adults. However, in a larger number of patients, the differences between the dosage groups could reach the level of significance. Therefore, the extension of the cohort will be continued. EP-1678 Modern radiotherapy learning: a scoping review of the literature G. Walls 1 , S. McAleer 2 , G. Hanna 1 1 Queen's University Belfast, Centre for Cancer Research & Cell Biology, Belfast, United Kingdom ; 2 Queen's University Belfast, Centre for Medical Education, Belfast, United Kingdom Purpose or Objective The last two decades have seen revolutionary developments in both radiotherapy technology and postgraduate medical training. Trainees are expected to attain the required competencies over a period of five years using a mix of experiential learning, formal postgraduate teaching, self-directed learning and peer learning. Developing skills in radiotherapy relies on workplace-based learning in particular, and Radiation/Clinical Oncology is a recognised craft specialty where the apprenticeship model of education is applicable. The process of learning radiotherapy in its current form has not been comprehensively described. Material and Methods A systematic search of MEDINE and EMBASE was undertaken to identify published studies of trainee and/or trainer experience of radiotherapy learning 1999-2018. Keywords used in the search included “radiotherapy”, “radiation oncology”, “postgraduate training”, “postgraduate education” and “apprenticeship”. Results pertaining to medical oncology, workforce trends, undergraduate radiotherapy exposure, academic training, global health, gender issues, non-medical staff, health service infrastructure and recruitment to training programmes were not included as they were out-with the focus of the research.

Results Of 269 search results, 87 met the inclusion criteria. A further 59 publications cited in the search results were included in the synthesis. Only abstracts existed for 5