Radiation Oncology, GenesisCare, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
Christchurch Oncology Service, Canterbury Regional Cancer and Haematology Centre, Christchurch, New Zealand.
J Med Imaging Radiat Oncol. 2023 Oct;67(7):769-776. doi: 10.1111/1754-9485.13565. Epub 2023 Jul 19.
To evaluate the scope of practice and role in cancer management for radiation oncologists in Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore (ANZ).
A 27-question survey was emailed to all practicing radiation oncologists listed on the RANZCR database in mid-2021.
There was a 54% response rate. Respondents reported managing symptoms associated with radiation therapy (96%), cancer-related symptoms (86%), writing narcotic and analgesic prescriptions (76%), being involved in palliative care (57%), prescribing non-cytotoxic systemic therapy (45%), and admitting patients (41%). Just over 20% wanted to expand their scope of practice, but for those who were unable to, insufficient time (35%), inter-specialty political difficulties (14%), and lack of support from the organisation (12%) were the major reasons. Over half of respondents (56.4%) thought they provided an opinion on the overall role of cancer management. Just under 20% provided a radiation therapy opinion only and <1% provided radiation therapy at the request of the referring clinician. The remainder reported a combination of these. Over 80% of respondents thought their ideal role was to be involved in overall cancer management and 20% believed they should be providing an opinion on radiation therapy only. The ideal role matched the actual role in over 87% of respondents and most respondents thought radiation oncology training enabled an opinion on overall cancer management. Over 90% of respondents were satisfied with their current role in cancer management. Radiation oncologists felt they were perceived as independent clinicians and the large majority (87%) thought radiation oncologists should be part of a multidisciplinary team rather than leaders in cancer management.
This study has revealed a broad but expected scope of practice for ANZ radiation oncologists with the large majority providing an opinion on overall cancer management or radiation therapy and their ideal role matching their actual role.
评估澳大利亚、新西兰和新加坡（ANZ）的放射肿瘤学家在癌症管理中的实践范围和角色。
在 2021 年年中，向 RANZCR 数据库中列出的所有执业放射肿瘤学家发送了一份 27 个问题的调查。
回应率为 54%。受访者报告了管理与放射治疗相关的症状（96%）、癌症相关症状（86%）、开具麻醉和镇痛药处方（76%）、参与姑息治疗（57%）、开具非细胞毒性全身治疗（45%）和收治患者（41%）。超过 20%的受访者希望扩大其执业范围，但对于那些无法扩大执业范围的人来说，主要原因是时间不足（35%）、跨专业政治困难（14%）和组织支持不足（12%）。超过一半的受访者（56.4%）认为他们对癌症管理的总体角色发表了意见。略低于 20%的受访者仅提供放射治疗意见，<1%的受访者根据转诊医生的要求提供放射治疗意见。其余受访者报告了这些意见的组合。超过 80%的受访者认为他们理想的角色是参与整体癌症管理，20%的受访者认为他们应该只对放射治疗发表意见。理想的角色与 87%以上受访者的实际角色相匹配，大多数受访者认为放射肿瘤学培训使他们能够对整体癌症管理发表意见。超过 90%的受访者对他们在癌症管理中的当前角色感到满意。放射肿瘤学家认为他们被视为独立的临床医生，绝大多数（87%）认为放射肿瘤学家应该是多学科团队的一员，而不是癌症管理的领导者。
这项研究揭示了澳大利亚、新西兰和新加坡的放射肿瘤学家的广泛但预期的执业范围，他们中的绝大多数人对整体癌症管理或放射治疗发表意见，他们的理想角色与他们的实际角色相匹配。
