In recent years the role of the radiation therapist (RT) has increasingly evolved. In Australia, one of the major developments has been the transition from practice which was rarely based on scientific evidence, to the profession today which engages in and incorporates research into everyday practice. The aim of this article is to provide an insight into the current status of Australian radiation therapy research. In order to present a national overview, a survey relating to research activity was e-mailed to all (48) clinical centres in Australia. Thirty-six out of the 48 centres responded, representing 13 private and 23 public centres. The results demonstrated that a research culture is beginning to be established and that there are challenges associated with implementing research. The role of universities in facilitating the development of research skills was considered important with an increasing number of practitioners undertaking higher research degrees. Overall, research activity in the Australian radiation therapy community is becoming more prevalent. If the profession is to continue to strengthen its research profile the professional body and universities need to continue providing academic and funding support. Greater focus on multidisciplinary collaboration is needed with direct involvement of RTs in multi-centre studies.
The purpose of this scoping review is to examine the literature regarding the development, implementation, scope and extent of Advanced Practice Radiation Therapist (APRT) roles in Australia in peer reviewed journals, government reports, conference proceedings and reports. A search was undertaken of PubMed, Web of Science and CINAHL, the ASMIRT website and, and Google Scholar to identify relevant documents. Combinations of keywords with Boolean operators ((advanced practice) OR (advanced practitioner) OR (specialist)) AND ((radiation therapist) OR (radiation therapy)) were used. Online and physical searches were conducted between July 16 and 23 2017. Results were not date limited. The searches retrieved 352 after duplicates were removed with 46 remaining after filtering for eligibility criteria. Items consisted of journal articles, conference abstracts, presentation slides, online presentations, State government and ASMIRT reports. A number of potential and existing APRT roles were found in the identified articles, including image review, stereotactic, treatment review, breast localisation, palliative radiotherapy, brachytherapy, radiation engineering and urology. Despite reports indicating that radiation therapists in Australia have been concerned with professional directions since 2001, there is little evidence of formal progress towards defined APRT roles. Several centres have implemented roles in a number of practice areas. The success of APRT roles lies in the ability to demonstrate that implementation goals have been achieved and that patient care has improved. The literature suggests that this is occurring, however, the presented evidence is not compelling.
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