ESTRO 2020 Abstract book

S1134 ESTRO 2020

attended) about the role of RTTs within scientific research. Each question provided for a single preference among from two to eight options. The questionnaire was sent on national basis to all the Italian RTTs, using the Italian Association of RTTs mailing list. The survey started on the 1st of October 2018 and ended on the 31 st of January 2019. Results The survey questionnaire was sent to 509 RTTs and 133 responses were received at its expire date (26.12%). 97.73% of the respondents stated that RTTs could represent a figure that can be successfully integrated into the multi-professional research team, with a clear predominance of the "Data collection" task (52.71%) and “Hypothesis generation” (17.83%), aiming to develop personal competences and knowledge (67.42%). Unfortunately, 59.85% of the respondents are not member of any scientific society and 38.64% does not feel supported by the other research team members. Demographic and scientific interest questions and relative responses are described in image 1, while the ones describing the research role of RTTs are reported in image 2. Figure 1.

practice as an autonomous professional within the multidisciplinary team. While developing the national education program for RTTs we studied carefully the already existing programs and recommendations: A Syllabus for the Education and Training of RTTs, IAEA, Vienna 2005, IAEA-TCS-25; Recommended ESTRO Core Curriculum for RTTs – 3rd edition; A Handbook for the Education of Radiation Therapists (RTTs), IAEA, Vienna, 2014, IAEA-TCS-58. This analysis helped us to develop the short-term national program which provided the learners with the sufficient knowledge and competencies necessary for the accurate set-up and delivery of radiation therapy. Results In 2013 we launched the first one-month course for RTTs. The target group consisted of radiation oncology departments’ nurses from various regions and cities of Russia. The training period was four weeks (144 academic hours). The 2-8th courses were held in 2014 – 2019, and followed the same educational program. The total number of participants was from 15 to 25 learners from various cities of Russia. The participants of the 4th course participated in the Nurse section during the Oncological Congress in November 2015 in Moscow where the RTTs were able to clarify clinical and administrative aspects of their job. In November 2016 Mary Coffey, Adjunct Associate Professor, Discipline of Radiation Therapy‐Trinity College and Elena Fidarova, Radiation Oncologist of the Applied Radiation Biology and Radiotherapy Section, IAEA visited Moscow with the IAEA expert mission to assess the programme of the national training course for RTTs. They also took part in the work of the RTTs section of the Congress of the Russian Society of Radiographers and Radiologists held in Moscow, RF, 7 – 9 November, 2016. Since 2018 in terms of Russian scientific and educational Congress with international participation "Oncoradiology, radiation diagnosis and therapy» a specialized RTTs section is held. Conclusion Nowadays the modern radiotherapy is performed with the sophisticated equipment that requires the highly qualified professionals. In the Russian Federation the responsibilities of Radiation Therapy Technologists are executed by nurses who receive on-the-job training. We would like to share our experience of the RTTs education and training programme in Russia. PO-1941 Current perspectives of RTTs in radiation oncology research: a national survey in Italy D. Piro 1 , L. Boldrini 1 , P. Cornacchione 1 , D. Pasini 1 , M. Balducci 1 , M.A. Gambacorta 1 , V. Valentini 1 1 Fondazione Policlinico Universitario "A. Gemelli" IRCCS, Diagnostica per Immagini- Radioterapia Oncologica ed Ematologia, Roma, Italy Purpose or Objective This survey is describes the current role and perspectives of RTTs within Radiation Oncology scientific research teams in Italy, in the frame of multi-professional collaboration for research projects setup and ongoing protocols management. Primary aim was to assess the degree of involvement of our national RTT community in research and describe how it addresses the multiple opportunities in working together with other professional figures and successfully integrating their perspective and skills in clinical research. Material and Methods A specific questionnaire of ten questions was ad hoc generated on an online survey platform. The questions were divided in three different main topics: demographic (age, sex, kind of institution); opinions (about the role, the potential benefits and the possible obstacles of RTT participation to research projects), scientific interest (number of research projects involvement, number of papers read, conference

Figure 2.

Conclusion Not surprisingly, most of the received responses belong to young professionals: this probably implies that the