Session Item

In some countries, radiation therapists (RTT) are highly skilled professionals with a recognised diploma/degree, but in others, they only have access to in-service training without formal recognition.

The latest clinical audits of Belgian Radiotherapy (RT) departments identified that RTTs lack training and professional development. The Belgian law still stipulates that nurses can practice RT, despite the absence of RT specific training except for 60 hours of radioprotection. In addition, Medical Imaging Technologists (MIT), who have some RT training, can access RT practice but this is not legally recognized. Moreover, inequality of curricula exists across the country.

Some health schools, national societies, and hospitals offer training to minimise this issue. However, the absence of a legal framework to formalise RTT training remains a weak point, with the potential to affect patient care.

This study investigated the barriers in education and professional development of MIT and nurses working in RT in the French and Dutch-speaking parts of the country and future perspectives for both health care groups.

Recruitment was done using a critical case sampling technique: nine Belgian experts with vast RT experience, who were likely to yield the most information and generate new knowledge, were invited for the interviews. Out of these, 4 physicians, 3 nurses, and 1 physicist accepted to participate. The interviewees were involved in education and were active members of at least one national or international society. A semi-structured questionnaire was used, and thematic analysis was performed by the first 2 authors who open-coded all interviews.

After independent coding, discussions between the researchers lead to a consensus regarding the final themes and sub-themes (Table 1).

These results highlight the need for fast actions in the education and professional development of Belgian RT professionals, given their critical role in treating RT patients.

Barriers in education and professional development of nurses and MIT working in RT in both French and Dutch-speaking parts of Belgium are mainly related to the current legislation, educational, economic, social-cultural and political context, and a lack of professional identity amongst professionals delivering RT. No differences were found between nurses and MIT for both parts of the country, except for the educational background.

One of the main issues is the lack of national requirements for the training and recognition of the professionals working in RT. Therefore, regulating education programmes is considered urgent. The proposals included RT-dedicated bachelor’s degrees, mandatory RT-specific post-graduate courses allied with continuous professional development, or Master’s degrees.

Financial support is also essential for schools to provide an adequate education level, but also to retain the professionals and motivate them to progress professionally.