From Beam to Bedside: A Physicist-Led Radiation Therapy Educational Seminar Series for Nurses
Abstract
Purpose
Uncertainty about radiotherapy treatments can cause patients distress, which has been linked to poorer outcomes. During interactions with their nursing team, patients often seek information about the safety of their treatments to reduce anxiety. However, the underlying physics concepts required to address these concerns are not routinely disseminated to non-physics specialists, and educational materials often lag behind rapidly advancing radiotherapy technologies. Providing nurses with relevant, up-to-date information is essential to better support patients navigating their radiation journeys. To facilitate this interdisciplinary knowledge sharing, a physicist-led educational seminar series was developed for nurses to enhance their understanding of modern radiotherapy techniques and fundamental concepts.
Methods
A three-part seminar series was designed and implemented by medical physicists for radiation and systemic nurses at their institution. The curriculum emphasized conceptual understanding for a patient-facing team using analogies, clinical examples, and open discussion. Topics focused on (1) foundational radiotherapy techniques, (2) radiobiology and dose delivery, and (3) emerging technologies. Educational effectiveness was assessed using anonymized quantitative and qualitative surveys (n=29).
Results
The seminar series achieved high attendance and engagement. Survey responses indicated that the presentations were appropriate for a non-physicist audience, with average scores of >4.9/5 for suitability, clarity, and quality of material. Participants expressed increased confidence in answering patients’ questions about treatment delivery and safety, and expressed interest in continued interdisciplinary educational offerings. Additionally, the content in the seminar series was requested by clinical educators to update the training documents for onboarding nurses at the authors’ institution.
Conclusion
This work demonstrates that a targeted, physicist-led seminar series can meaningfully improve patient care by translating technical knowledge through a patient-facing team. This seminar series is easily adaptable to other institutions, requires minimal resources, and promotes interdisciplinary collaboration. Adoption of this model has the potential to alleviate patient anxiety and improve quality of care.