Professional development workshops for graduate practitioners in radiation therapy: identifying preferred topics with the nominal group technique

Abstract

Purpose: Each year, graduate practitioner radiation therapists (RTs) participate in the NSW Professional Development Year (PDY) Programme by attending workshops focused on continuing professional development. The main aim of this project was to determine what topics graduate practitioner RTs want presented in these workshops. Secondary aims were to determine what graduate practitioner RTs hoped to achieve from these workshops and determine how involved graduate practitioner RTs want to be in the organisation of these workshops. Methods: During one of these workshops, the Nominal Group Technique (NGT) was used to investigate these questions and allowed for a list of responses to be generated by individuals undertaking their PDY in 2009. The responses for each question were ranked by the group to determine what the favourable responses were. Results: Responses showed that topics related to future careers, patient care and personal development were favoured by the group. These topics were reflected again in the question addressing what graduate practitioner RTs hoped to achieve from the workshop, with graduate practitioner RTs hoping to learn about future job opportunities and how to better care for patients. In regards to involvement in the day, the NGT found that graduate practitioner RTs want to work with the Radiation Therapy Educator (RTE) to contribute to the workshop. Conclusion: These results may prove helpful for RTEs in the planning of future PDY workshops to ensure the learning needs of graduate practitioner RTs are met.