Pritzker School of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.
Department of Radiation and Cellular Oncology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.
Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2021 Mar 1;109(3):661-669. doi: 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2020.09.056.
Interprofessional education (IPE) is gaining recognition as a means of improving health care delivery and patient outcomes. A primary goal of IPE is improved interprofessional collaboration (IPC). The multidisciplinary team in the radiation oncology clinic requires effective IPC for optimal delivery of radiation therapy. However, there are limited data on IPE and IPC in radiation oncology. This qualitative study aims to characterize IPC in radiation oncology.
Semistructured phone interviews were performed from June to August 2019 with radiation oncologists, nurses, dosimetrists, radiation therapists, medical physicists, and medical students across a single academic medical center and affiliated network sites. Interviews were recorded, de-identified, and transcribed verbatim. Resulting transcripts were analyzed using thematic analysis.
Seventeen interviews were performed with 4 radiation oncologists, 2 nurses, 2 dosimetrists, 4 radiation therapists, 2 medical physicists, and 3 medical students. Thematic analysis identified 4 themes: (1) management of the radiation oncology clinic, (2) potential impact of interprofessional training in radiation oncology, (3) current climate of interprofessional education in radiation oncology, and (4) creating an interprofessional training program in radiation oncology. Each theme elicited between 2 and 7 subthemes.
From the analytical themes that emerged, it is hypothesized that misunderstanding professionals' roles can lead to communication breakdown, which creates less efficient clinic management and disorganized patient care. Although other medical professionals shadow physicians during their training, physicians are not learning about other professions in the same way. Interviewees from each professional category recommend a formal shadowing program for radiation oncology trainees at the medical student or resident level. Having structured opportunities for IPE is important given competing demands of learners during medical student rotations and residency. This study suggests an unmet need for exposure of radiation oncology medical trainees to IPE with the ultimate goal of improving IPC in the radiation oncology clinic.
跨专业教育（IPE）作为提高医疗服务水平和改善患者预后的手段正得到越来越多的认可。IPE 的主要目标是改善跨专业协作（IPC）。放射肿瘤科诊所的多学科团队需要有效的 IPC 才能为患者提供最佳的放射治疗。然而，关于放射肿瘤学中的 IPE 和 IPC 的数据有限。这项定性研究旨在描述放射肿瘤学中的 IPC。
2019 年 6 月至 8 月，在一家学术医疗中心及其附属网络站点，对放射肿瘤学家、护士、剂量师、放射治疗师、医学物理学家和医学生进行了半结构式电话访谈。访谈进行了录音、匿名处理，并逐字转录。使用主题分析对转录本进行分析。
共进行了 17 次访谈，受访者包括 4 名放射肿瘤学家、2 名护士、2 名剂量师、4 名放射治疗师、2 名医学物理学家和 3 名医学生。主题分析确定了 4 个主题：（1）放射肿瘤科诊所的管理，（2）放射肿瘤学跨专业培训的潜在影响，（3）放射肿瘤学跨专业教育的当前氛围，以及（4）创建放射肿瘤学跨专业培训计划。每个主题引出了 2 到 7 个子主题。
从出现的分析主题可以推断，对专业人员角色的误解可能导致沟通中断，从而导致诊所管理效率低下和患者护理混乱。尽管其他医疗专业人员在培训期间会跟随医生，但医生并没有以同样的方式了解其他专业。来自每个专业类别的受访者都建议在医学生或住院医生阶段为放射肿瘤学受训者制定正式的跟随计划。考虑到医学生轮训期间学习者的竞争需求，为 IPE 提供结构化的机会非常重要。这项研究表明，放射肿瘤学医学受训者需要接触 IPE，最终目标是改善放射肿瘤科诊所的 IPC。
