Motshweneng Oupa S, Mdletshe Sibusiso
Department of Health Sciences Education, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
Department of Anatomy and Medical Imaging, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
Health SA. 2021 Aug 30;26:1587. doi: 10.4102/hsag.v26i0.1587. eCollection 2021.
The higher education landscape in South Africa has recently changed with the new National Qualifications Framework, leading to the introduction of four-year degrees in all four radiography disciplines. Additionally, there have been developments in the extension of roles in radiography, while the need for interdisciplinary practice has also been emphasised. The Professional Board for Radiography and Clinical Technology (PBRCT) of the Health Professions Council of South Africa is currently revising the scope of the profession which will now include extended roles. However, the extended role concept in radiation therapy has not received the attention similar to Diagnostic/Medical Imaging. The aim of this paper is, therefore, to provide concept clarification and key considerations for developing a postgraduate curricular framework for training radiation therapists to practise in the envisaged extended roles. For this narrative review, a Boolean search for advanced practice and role extension in radiation therapy was done on all databases (43) available on EbscoHost to source for peer-reviewed articles published between January 1950 and September 2020. A total of 17 articles met the inclusion criteria and were used to frame the discussion. Advanced practice emerged as the more suitable concept as it goes beyond an extension of tasks to include critical characteristics that are necessary to drive transformation in the local social, professional and educational arenas. It is envisaged that some of the key points discussed in this paper could assist the PBRCT in thinking about the implementation of the proposed extended roles for radiation therapists in South Africa.
南非的高等教育格局最近随着新的国家资格框架发生了变化，所有四个放射学学科都引入了四年制学位。此外，放射学领域的角色扩展也有了新进展，同时跨学科实践的需求也得到了强调。南非卫生专业人员理事会的放射学与临床技术专业委员会（PBRCT）目前正在修订该专业的范围，修订后的范围将包括扩展后的角色。然而，放射治疗中的扩展角色概念尚未得到与诊断/医学成像类似的关注。因此，本文的目的是为制定一个研究生课程框架提供概念澄清和关键考虑因素，以便培训放射治疗师在设想的扩展角色中执业。对于这项叙述性综述，在EBSCOhost上可用的所有数据库（43个）中，对放射治疗中的高级实践和角色扩展进行了布尔搜索，以查找1950年1月至2020年9月期间发表的同行评审文章。共有17篇文章符合纳入标准，并用于构建讨论内容。高级实践成为更合适的概念，因为它不仅仅是任务的扩展，还包括推动当地社会、专业和教育领域变革所需的关键特征。预计本文讨论的一些关键点可以帮助PBRCT思考在南非实施放射治疗师拟议的扩展角色。
