Adaptive Radiotherapy Readiness: A Peptalk on Training, Credentialing, and Confidence-Building
Description
As adaptive radiotherapy (ART) evolves from early innovation to standard clinical practice, structured training and credentialing frameworks are essential to ensure safety, consistency, and confidence across institutions. While technical readiness of ART platforms continues to mature, true clinical readiness depends on developing well-defined competencies for every member of the adaptive team—physicians, physicists, dosimetrists, and therapists—working together under real-time decision pressure. This session delivers a practical “how-to” roadmap for building institutional ART competency from the ground up, informed by early-adopter experience across MR- and CBCT-guided systems. Speakers will outline structured pathways that include case observation, phantom dry runs, mock adaptive sessions, and supervised credentialing cases—highlighting how these approaches improve workflow efficiency and decision reliability. A unique element of this session is the inclusion of the Canadian experience, where radiation therapists (RTTs) have been formally integrated into the adaptive workflow through structured training and defined clinical privileges. Canada’s model—anchored in national RTT education standards and the Clinical Specialist Radiation Therapist (CSRT) framework—offers valuable lessons for scaling ART safely and sustainably. The session will conclude with a forward-looking discussion on how professional organizations such as AAPM and IROC can facilitate broader community readiness through shared contouring libraries, competency checklists, and public training platforms.