Friday 16 March 2018

Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre (Peter Mac) is a public radiation therapy service operating five campuses across metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria. Radiation therapist-driven research is critical to drive innovation, professional development and improve patient outcomes. However, providing an integrated research approach to a diverse Peter Mac workforce of 200+ radiation therapists poses many challenges. The weight of staff numbers, geography and differing priorities was fragmenting effective research pathways. In late 2015, a new research model was introduced to respond to these challenges. The vision for radiotherapy research within the new model was to develop an equitable, integrated and transparent environment to enable multi-level radiation therapist engagement across the organisation, regardless of previous research experience. Numerous initiatives have resulted from the research model, including: an overarching, ethics-approved retrospective planning study protocol, to facilitate expedited evidence based technique development; a standardised research project initiation pathway with a central project repository, enabling accountability and cross-campus transparency; and an automated publication bulletin of current literature to facilitate ongoing professional development and currency of practice. In the 18 months since the introduction of the research model, research outputs have increased significantly. Currently, 19 radiation therapist-driven projects are active, with many enjoying cross-campus collaboration. Externally delivered presentations have increased from six (2016) to 20 (2017), with a further increase forecast for 2018. Furthermore, many are on track for publication translation. This aim of this presentation is to detail Peter Mac’s newly formed research structure in order to provide insight into potential application in the wider radiation therapy community. Impact of radiotherapy underutilisation: survival shortfall, years of potential life lost and disabilityadjusted life years Vikneswary Batumalai, Jesmin Shafiq, Gabriel Gabriel, Timothy Hanna, Geoff Delaney, Michael Barton Liverpool Cancer Therapy and Ingham Institute, Liverpool, Australia