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Abstract
Several staffing models are used to determine the required medical physics staffing, including radiotherapy technologists, of radiation oncology departments. However, since Japanese facilities tend to be smaller in scale than foreign ones, those models might not apply to Japan. Therefore, in this study, we surveyed workloads in Japan to estimate the optimal medical physics staffing in external beam radiotherapy. A total of 837 facilities were surveyed to collect information regarding radiotherapy techniques and medical physics specialists (RTMPs). The survey covered facility information, staffing, patient volume, equipment volume, workload and quality assurance (QA) status. Full-time equivalent (FTE) factors were estimated from the workload and compared with several models. Responses were received from 579 facilities (69.2%). The median annual patient volume was 369 at designated cancer care hospitals (DCCHs) and 252 across all facilities. In addition, the median FTE of RTMPs was 4.6 at DCCHs and 3.0 at all sites, and the average QA implementation rate for radiotherapy equipment was 69.4%. Furthermore, advanced treatment technologies have increased workloads, particularly in computed tomography simulations and treatment planning tasks. Compared to published models, larger facilities (over 500 annual patients) had a shortage of medical physics staff. In very small facilities (about 140 annual patients), the medical physics staffing requirement was estimated to be 0.5 FTE, implying that employing a full-time medical physicist would be inefficient. However, ensuring the quality of radiotherapy is an important issue, given the limited number of RTMPs. Our study provides insights into optimizing staffing and resource allocation in radiotherapy departments.
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Details
1 Division of Medical Physics, Tokyo Bay Makuhari Clinic for Advanced Imaging, Cancer Screening, and High-Precision Radiotherapy , 1-17 Toyosuna, Mihama-ku, Chiba-shi, Chiba 261-0024 , Japan
2 Division of Radiation Safety and Quality Assurance, National Cancer Center Hospital , 5-1-1 Tsukiji, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0045 , Japan
3 Department of Radiological Technology , Faculty of Medical Science, Kyoto College of Medical Science , 1-3 Sonobechooyamahigashimachi, Nantan-shi, Kyoto 622-0041 , Japan
4 Department of Radiation Therapy, Tokyo Medical University Hospital , 6-7-1 Nishishinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-0023 Japan
5 Department of Medical Technology, Tane General Hospital , 1-12-21 Kujo-minami, Nishi-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka 550-0025 , Japan
6 Division of Radiological Technology , Department of Medical Technology, University Hospital, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine , 465 Kajii-cho, Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto 602-8566 , Japan
7 Department of Radiation Oncology, Saitama Cancer Center , 780 Komuro, Ina-machi, Saitama 362-0806 , Japan
8 Division of Medical Physics , School of Medical Sciences, Fujita Health University , 1-98 Dengakugakubo, Kutsukakecho, Toyoake, Aichi 470-1192 , Japan
9 Department of Radiological Sciences , Faculty of Medical Science Technology, Morinomiya University of Medical Sciences , 1-26-16 Nankoukita, Suminoe-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka 559-8611 , Japan
10 Department of Medical Technology, Aichi Medical University Medical Center , 17-33 Kawagoe, Nikki-cho, Okazaki-shi, Aichi 444-2148 , Japan
11 Department of Advanced Medical Physics, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University , 53 Kawahara-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8507 , Japan
12 Department of Radiological Science, Graduate School of Human Health Sciences, Tokyo Metropolitan University , 7-2-10 Higashiogu, Arakawa-ku, Tokyo 116-8551 , Japan
13 Department of Radiology, University of Yamanashi Faculty of Medicine , 1110 Shimokato, Chuo-shi, Yamanashi 409-3898 , Japan