Despite the many positive aspects of radiation oncology, there is growing concern for the future of the workforce. There has been an increase in the number of apprenticeship positions available despite an apparent decline in medical student interest and concern regarding patient volume projections. Radiation therapy plays an increasingly important role in cancer treatment. Currently, more than 50% of all cancer patients can expect to receive radiation therapy during the course of their illness, either as primary treatment (radical or adjuvant radiation therapy) or for symptom control (palliative radiation therapy).
Global Trends in Radiation Oncology are Optimizing Efficiency in Treatment Planning (AI) and In order to create individualized, patient-centered treatments, radiation oncologists use a multitude of resources and innovations available in oncology. radiation therapy to improve the patient experience and generate the best health outcomes for each and every patient. In addition, coordinated research activities provide access to specialized and experienced researchers in various fields and research networks around the world, which can lead to resource reduction, training in the use of new technologies and general support for future research activities in the country. First, it is not currently known to what extent the current supply of radiation oncologists can adapt to the increase in patient volume. However, it would be important to cautiously explore the potential capacity of existing training programs to increase the number of apprentices and perhaps consider a conservative and gradual increase in the number of approved residency positions while further research into the radiation oncology workforce is being carried out.
The purpose of writing this manuscript was to take a look at the situation of young radiation oncologists. In addition, global and regional initiatives that support education and training, assessment of the availability of radiation therapy, radiation therapy research and future directions will be highlighted. Therefore, any analysis of the ability of the future medical supply to adapt to a given patient load must consider the time load of the newest and most sophisticated technologies. As the most widely used imaging modality for cancer staging and response assessment, advances in CT, in particular the availability of iterative reconstruction algorithms and increased detector sensitivity to reduce the dose of ionizing radiation to the patient, as well as continuous improvements in noise and artifact correction, have enabled a number of new quantitative CT techniques that can also characterize tissue and illustrate metabolic function. Addressing this projected mismatch between increased demand for radiation therapy and increased supply of radiation oncologists is critically important to ensure that radiation therapy remains widely accessible with acceptable wait times for all cancer patients. This growing emphasis on technology, along with other important changes in the health care economic environment, now places the radiation oncology specialty in a precarious position.
In addition, implementation research is very important in radiation oncology to address the knowledge gap between evidence-based interventions and their delivery to community practice, particularly in Low-and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs).After having written peer-reviewed articles and a book chapter, Dr. Phillips' expertise in performance and supervision within radiobiology-based research teams, both for computational models and for experimental cell and animal irradiation projects, is evident. Spatially fractionated radiation therapy (SFRT) intentionally delivers a non-uniform distribution of dose to the gross volume of the tumor and represents a cross between laboratory and clinic. If radiation oncologists simply become the guardians of a single therapeutic modality, they may find that time passes, and even if the techniques endure, the specialty may not. To ensure that radiation oncology remains an essential part of cancer care going forward, it is essential that we continue to invest in research initiatives that will help us understand how best to use this modality for optimal patient outcomes.
