An Exploration of the Pillars of Leadership in Cancer Education.

Leadership plays a key role in cancer education (CE) and the success of its practices. Leaders in CE must effectively use their leadership skills to be able to communicate, collaborate, and educate their team members. There is a lack of formalized and standardized curriculums for institutions in developing leadership programs, including what themes to focus on in CE.

Patient engagement in CPD in radiation oncology and radiation therapy across Canada: A national survey.

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate patient engagement (PE) in the development and delivery of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programs for health care providers within radiation oncology, radiation therapy and medical physics across Canada. This study looked at the current state of PE in CPD programs across Canada and how to address the benefits and barriers to PE to advance these programs.

Methods: A quantitative, exploratory survey was conducted among radiation oncologists, radiation therapists and medical physicists across Canada.

Functional decline and resilience in older adults over the age of 70 receiving radiotherapy for breast cancer: A pilot study.

Introduction: Radiotherapy (RT) as an adjuvant, post-lumpectomy treatment has been shown to improve local control and survival in people with breast cancer. While adverse events because of cancer treatments are common, many older adults have demonstrated the ability to return to their baseline levels of physical functioning. There are limited reports on the functional decline and recovery of older patients undergoing RT.

Changing me to we: Developing teambuilding in radiation therapy.

Background: There has been a causal link identified within the literature between poor team function and errors, patient outcomes, staff satisfaction and performance. Lacking is supporting evidence on teambuilding and its impact on overall team performance and team dynamics. Within radiation therapy, there is difficulty in understanding the inner workings of team dynamics due to the unique complex nature of teams and with very little evidence on the impact of team building specific to radiation therapy.

Learning in 360 Degrees: A Pilot Study on the Use of Virtual Reality for Radiation Therapy Patient Education.

Background: Patient education for external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) is traditionally delivered in verbal and/or written form, which may not provide a full picture of the complex, technical aspects of treatment. The purpose of this pilot study was to create and evaluate a prototype 360-degree virtual reality (VR) video outlining the technical aspects of EBRT to the pelvis as a supplement to traditional education methods.

Materials And Methods: A prototype VR video was filmed to simulate the delivery of one fraction of image-guided EBRT to the pelvis.

Do Canadian Radiation Oncologists Consider Geriatric Assessment in the Decision-Making Process for Treatment of Patients 80 years and Older with Non-Metastatic Prostate Cancer? - National Survey.

Purpose: Clinical judgement may not be sufficient to detect relevant problems in older cancer patients. We investigated what Geriatric Assessment tools (GA) are used by Canadian radiation oncologists (CROs) to treat non-metastatic prostate cancer patients aged 80 years and older.

Methods: A 27-item cross-sectional survey was developed with input from a multidisciplinary team and distributed electronically to Genitourinary (GU) CROs via LimeSurvey.

Building a Magnetic Resonance Imaging Safety Culture from the Ground Up.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) uses a strong magnetic field to generate diagnostic images. This magnetic field has the potential to cause serious and even fatal injuries to patients undergoing scans and to personnel in the area. Ensuring awareness of MRI hazards and safety procedures through a formalized education and training program is integral in creating an MRI safety culture that protects patients and staff from harm.

Developing and Evaluating Multimedia Patient Education Tools to Better Prepare Prostate-Cancer Patients for Radiotherapy Treatment (Randomized Study).

Unlabelled: The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of multimedia educational tools to improve CT planning preparation for intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) for prostate cancer. Many patients are not prepared when given verbal preparation instructions to have a full bladder and empty rectum for their IMRT and require being rescanned, which results in additional costs for the patient and the hospital. A pamphlet and video outlining the proper preparation for prostate IMRT was created to decrease additional scans and the associated costs, while increasing patient satisfaction.

Incorporating Peer Assessments within a Clinical Practicum Course: Insights from a Clinical Faculty Initiative.

Introduction: Peer assessments have been used within health professional programs to provide some degree of judgment of professional behavior and to facilitate feedback among peers. In an attempt to further support the clinical learning of our students, the clinical education team at the Odette Cancer Centre initiated a pilot to introduce peer assessments as a part of strategies for learning and engagement within laboratory sessions. The aim of our work was to retrospectively review peer assessments completed during these sessions in an attempt to identify professional behaviors, both positive and negative, and subsequently correlate the assessments with observed behaviors noted, both formally and anecdotally, within clinical faculty assessments.

Educating our patients collaboratively: a novel interprofessional approach.

Providing cancer patients with more information regarding their treatments allows them to feel more in control, increases self efficacy, and can decrease anxiety. The aims of the present study were to develop an interprofessional group education session and to evaluate the usefulness and acceptability of this session. In addition, informational distress levels pre- and post-education were evaluated.

Understanding Radiation Therapists' Perceptions and Approach to Clinical Competence Assessment of Medical Radiation Sciences Students.

Background: Within the academic clinical setting, radiation therapists are required to assess students' performance and competence as part of their clinical practice portfolio. Anecdotal feedback from the clinical setting identified challenges in assessment that emerged as a result of variation in who, how, and the context in which the assessment was being completed. A survey was distributed to gain insight into the current state of clinical competency assessment.