ESTRO NEWS!

The European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology is the only European society to represent all the professionals involved in the management of cancer patients using radiotherapy. Each discipline is represented through a professional committee.

RTT COMMITTEE

The RTT Committee of ESTRO was established in 1993 to address the professional issues of radiotherapy technicians who, as part of the multidisciplinary team, actually deliver the treatment to the patient. It remains the only group dedicated to representing RTTs at a European level.

The RTT Committee meets three times a year to discuss issues relevant to the work of RTTs in Europe and to agree ways to advance the profession and raise the standard of care to patients.

The Terms of Reference of the RTT Committee are to:

raise the professional profile of RTTs

facilitate the development of continuing education

create networks with other RTTs in Europe and worldwide to exchange knowledge, views and ideas

interact with clinicians, physicists and radiobiologists and provide synergy in the multidisciplinary approach to the treatment of cancer

encourage an increased understanding of the scientific basis of our profession and to learn about new techniques and attitudes

The Committee has been instrumental in ensuring that RTTs are properly represented across a broad range of ESTRO activities and that their role in patient care is fully understood.  RTTs are now represented on the Education Committee and at the annual ESTRO Board meeting and the Committee is working to extend the involvement of RTTs in all other relevant areas of the organisation.

Members

Andreas Osztavics (Chairperson), SMZ Süd Kaiser-Franz-Josef-Spital, Vienna, Austria

Gianfranco Brusadin, Centro di Riferimento Oncologico, Aviano, Italy

Mary Coffey, TCD School of Radiation Therapy St. James's Hospital, Dublin, Ireland

Joanne Cunningham, TCD School of Radiation Therapy St. James's Hospital, Dublin, Ireland

Mirjam Mast, Haaglanden Medical Centre, Westeinde Hospital, The Hague, The Netherlands

Aude Vaandering, UCL Cliniques Univ. St.Luc, Brussels, Belgium

Observers:

Wioletta Sobieraj, The Maria Sklodowska-Curie Memorial, Warsaw, Poland

Filipe Garcia de Moura, Hospital Cuf Descobertas, Lisboa, Portugal

The Committee can be contacted through Cecile Hardon at ESTRO. cecile.hardon@estro.org

RTT COMMITTEE ACTIVITIES

                        Meetings

The RTT Committee together with active members organise the RTT's programme for the biennial ESTRO conferences.  Since 2001 the biennial joint conference has been organised in conjunction with the physicists.  The Committee has also organised one day pre-meeting courses at the Amsterdam and Lisbon conferences and similar courses are planned for meetings.

                        Courses

ESTRO provides a number of courses specifically for RTTs as well and other professional groups involved in the treatment of cancers.

Working Towards Safer Healthcare Delivery

This is an endorsed ESTRO course, which is based on the work of the ROSIS group. It is a 3½ day course which explores the occurrence of incidents in health services, in particular in radiotherapy, to assess their impact, methods of prevention, detection, correction and reporting. The aims of this course are

to heighten awareness of the occurrence of incidents and near incidents in radiotherapy

to achieve greater accuracy in radiotherapy through incident prevention

to encourage a culture of openness in relation to incidents

A combination of lectures and workshops are held, allowing participants to gain more practical experience. The course is normally held in May, and places are limited. See the ROSIS website for further information (http://www.clin.radfys.lu.se/default.asp) .

The Radiotherapy Treatment Planning Course

The course is aimed primarily at RTTs involved in dosimetry. However, all radiotherapy technologists, junior physicists and trainee radiation oncologists can benefit from this course. To date there has been equal representation of all disciplines amongst the participants.

The course aims are:

to provide continuing education in practical treatment planning, for designated sites, as an integral part of the pre-treatment preparation of patients

to review the measurement and assessment of beam data necessary for treatment planning

to learn the basic computer planning methodology, the principles of simulation and immobilisation, the tools necessary for plan evaluation and quality assurance tests needed to assure the accuracy and reproducibility of the planning process

We will give the participants the opportunity to gain practical experience of producing and evaluating treatment plans using a 3D computer planning system under the guidance of the faculty.

The first course was organised in 2000 and attracted 44 participants. In 2006 the course was again fully booked with around 80 participants. For details of future courses please visit the ESTRO School of Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESRO) website (http://www.estro-education.org/courses/Pages/Dublin2009.aspx) .

Train The Teachers Course

Following a proposal from the RTTC, the concept of a "train the teachers" course is currently being developed. This initiative is fully supported by the ESTRO Education and Training Committee and has raised a lot of interest from the IAEA. This programme will take place in three phases over a three-year period. The main aims are:

to equip the RTTs with the skills necessary to design, organise, deliver and evaluate a course in their own language to RTTs in their own country

to promote the further development of, and increase the standard of education programmes for RTTs

to provide an accessible course for RTTs

to raise the profile of ESTRO with RTTs

to increase RTT membership and participation within ESTRO

The organisational aspects including the selection of the faculty are currently being arranged.

Details of the 2009 course can be found here: http://www.estro-education.org/courses/Pages/Maastricht2009.aspx .

                        ROSIS

ROSIS is short for "Radiation Oncology Safety Information System" and it is a voluntary web-based safety information database for Radiotherapy. The system is based on professional front-line staff in radiotherapy clinics reporting incidents and corrective actions over the Internet to a database.

                        Networks

The RTT Committee is actively engaged in producing a contact database for each National Society and country.

RTT titles

Different Titles used in the year 2008 in the European Union for our profession:

Austria            Radiologietechnologe/In 

Belgium            Infirmier/Verpleegkundigen &Technologue en imagerie médicale/

                        Technoloog medische beeldvorming   

Bulgaria           Рентгенов лаборант    

Cyprus            Aktinografos Diagnostikis /Diagnostic Radiographer & Aktinografos therapeias / Therapy Radiographer

Czech Rep.      Radiologický technik/Radiologický asistent    

Denmark          Radiograf    

Finland             Röntgenhoitaja / Röntgenskötare    

France             Manipulateur d'électroradiologie médicale    

Germany          Med.- tech. Radiologieassistent(in)    

Greece             Technologos radiologias - Aktinologias (TEI)    

Iceland             Geislafræðingur    

Ireland             Radiographer  /  Radiographer   

Italy                 Tecnico sanitario di radiologia medica

Liechtenstein  Röntgenassistent    

Luxembourg    Assitant technique medical de radiologie    

Malta                Radiographer    

Netherlands     Radiotherapeutisch laborant

Norway            Radiograf    

Poland              Technik elektroradiolog   / Technik elektroradiolog  

Portugal           Técnico de radioterapia   / Técnico de radiologia    

Slovenia            Diplomirani radiološki inženir    

Spain                Tecnico especialista de radioterapia  /   Tecnico     

Sweden             Röntgensjuksköterska   

Switzerland      Fachleute für medizinisch technische Radiologie /

                         Techniciens en radiologie médicale / Tecnici di radiologia medica

UK                     Radiographer  

The working group agreed that a single title was necessary to accurately reflect the profession and to give an international identity. The title Radiotherapy Technologist was still unacceptable to the majority of the participants. Discussion ultimately focused on two options: Radiotherapist or Radiation Therapist. The title Radiation Therapist is used in Australia and the United States and has recently been adopted in Ireland following the publication and recommendation of an Expert Review Group and the profession. There are difficulties with Radiotherapist as this is still used in many EU countries by the clinicians and it is also their title in the European Charter. The title Radiation Therapist was the consensus view of the group. Given the difficulties associated with title change, it was agreed that the letters RT would still be used as a generic descriptor and each country would continue to use the recognised national professional title until such time as unanimous change could be agreed at European level. 

Future events

We are committed to working with and for the RTT´s of the new member states of the European union, which allow us in a new way to reach our aims of sharing knowledge to raise the level of RTT´s in all countries of the European Union.

 

Finally , the RTTC Board would like to thank all colleagues for their input to the RTT Committee and its related activities, and look forward to a successful future together.

Andreas Osztavics

Chairman RTTC