Increasing Demand on Human Capital and Resource Utilization in Radiation Therapy: The Past Decade

Thind, Kundan; Roumeliotis, Michael; Mann, Thomas D.; Dyke, Lukas Van; Martell, Kevin; Smith, Wendy; Barbera, Lisa; Quirk, Sarah

doi:10.1016/j.ijrobp.2021.09.020

Cited by 14 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Recent data from Canada show that the introduction of advanced radiation therapy technologies– IMRT and volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT)‐require increasing resource utilisation. The time‐based human resource requirements increase by a factor of 2.4 for IMRT and by 2.9 or 4.3 for simple and complex VMAT, respectively 23 . Although staffing FTE has increased these may not be adequate to provide the resources required to deliver these more complex techniques.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The time-based human resource requirements increase by a factor of 2.4 for IMRT and by 2.9 or 4.3 for simple and complex VMAT, respectively. 23 Although staffing FTE has increased these may not be adequate to provide the resources required to deliver these more complex techniques. It is possible that the co-incident reduction in average course length has fortuitously allowed facilities to redirect some services (from treatment to planning) to compensate for this shortfall.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The changing radiation oncology landscape in New Zealand

et al. 2022

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Introduction This paper outlines the New Zealand (NZ) responses to the biennial facilities surveys of The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists (RANZCR), Faculty of Radiation Oncology (FRO) from 2011 to 2019. Methods The facilities survey is conducted by the FRO Economics and Workforce Committee (FROEWC) and focuses on equipment, treatment activities and staffing. Results The number of facilities increased by two to 10, both in the private sector. The total number of linear accelerators (linacs) increased by four; one in public and three in private. The majority of linacs were over 8 years old (62.5%). Treatment courses have increased by 19% and fraction numbers by 13.7%. Courses per linac have remained relatively constant. There was growth in IMRT, orthovoltage, high dose rate brachytherapy and paediatric treatments. There was a slow increase in number of radiation oncologists and trainees. The number of radiation therapists was unchanged with a 20% increase in treatment courses per radiation therapist. Physicist numbers have increased but 61.4% of physicists are overseas‐trained and vacancies persist. Conclusion The survey results indicate a rapidly changing radiation oncology landscape in NZ between 2011 and 2019. The challenges of increases in cancer numbers, treatment courses and complexity of treatments and a need to focus on quality standards against a set of minimal increase in machine numbers, ageing machines, static or slowly increasing staffing numbers and heavy reliance on overseas staffing require a national review of radiation oncology services to ensure a sustainable future.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The changing radiation oncology landscape in New Zealand

et al. 2022

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“…A recent study quantifying the resources required for radiation pre-treatment tasks highlighted increased workload in the last decade with patient population increased by 45% while time required to complete these tasks increased by 150%. Meanwhile, the staffing levels only increased by 29% in the same period [18]. Therefore, human resource utilization may be needed to meet the substantial demands associated with technologic changes, and initiatives such as a radiation anatomist should therefore be considered.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prospective Clinical Evaluation of Integrating a Radiation Anatomist for Contouring in Routine Radiation Treatment Planning

Zhang¹,

Onochie²,

Hilal³

et al. 2022

Advances in Radiation Oncology

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“…Long-term planning of radiotherapy service provision using reliable data is important in determining the capacity required in the future, and implementing strategies that ensure adequate and efficient healthcare delivery [15] , [68] , [69] , [70] , [71] , [72] . Effective cancer management plans should also consider the changing nature of cancer populations (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%