| CODE | RAD1081 | ||||||||||||||||
| TITLE | Clinical Radiotherapy Practice 1 | ||||||||||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 01 - Year 1 in Modular Undergraduate Course | ||||||||||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 5 | ||||||||||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Radiography | ||||||||||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | This study-unit is designed to enable first year radiography students to apply theoretical oncology and radiotherapy principles into practice. The study-unit is made up of tutorials, practical demonstrations, simulation rooms and mould room, clinical case scenarios, student centered learning and student managed learning, so that the students can relate the principles of radiotherapy, oncology, patient care and related areas to practice along with radiation protection as applied to radiotherapy. Students will be required to complete 100 hours of practical placements related to this study-unit during Semester 2 and the Summer Period, with 80 hours dedicated to a simulated environment and 20 hours allocated for independent learning. The clinical placement will integrate simulation of radiotherapy treatments using a Virtual Environment Radiotherapy Treatment (VERT), radiotherapy planning, and simulation of Mouldroom procedures such as immobilisation and problem-based learning activities. Academic staff from the University of Malta will monitor this practice to ensure the development of clinical skills. Study-unit Aims: This study-unit aims to: - Introduce radiography students to the role of radiographers within the radiotherapy department; - Introduce the students to basic radiotherapy physics planning principles; - Enable the students to immobilise a patient for radiotherapy treatment; - Enable the students to apply radiation protection principles to protect patients, staff and the general public; - Enable the students to describe the radiotherapy workflow; - Enable the students to understand the importance of quality assurance procedures in radiotherapy; - Enable students to simulate the safe delivery of radiation therapy in a linear accelerator using a virtual environment. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Explain the terminology used within radiotherapy and oncology; - Interpret a treatment prescription to perform simple radiotherapy plans; - Understand the basic radiotherapy treatment planning principles; - Identify the importance of pre-treatment procedures including immobilisation and discuss the different techniques used to immobilise patients; - Describe the process of patient setup, image verification and radiotherapy delivery using a linear accelerator; - Explain the basic principles behind the delivery of a radiotherapy treatment; - Describe the role of the radiographer and that of other health care professionals within the radiotherapy department; - Describe the radiation protection measures necessary to protect patients, staff and the general public; - Describe the production of x-ray and electron beams in the linear accelerator; - Describe the properties of radiation beams used for radiotherapy treatment and explain the factors that affect the dose absorption when these beams interact with matter; - Describe the different components of the linear accelerator and room design; - Explain the radiotherapy workflow; and - Describe the daily quality assurance checks on a linear accelerator. 2. Skills By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Safely simulate the radiotherapy treatment delivery using the virtual linear accelerator environment (VERT); - Simulate different beam configurations using the treatment planning system, and evaluate their impact on the dose distribution; - Interpret the radiotherapy treatment plans and assess the suitability for clinical use; - Identify main roles of radiographer in the treatment unit; - Simulate the immobilisation procedure for a patient undergoing radiotherapy; - Apply immobilisation, localisation, oncology, biology and physics principles to radiotherapy treatment delivery; and - Apply radiation protection principles to protect staff, patients and general public. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: Main Texts - Washington, Charles M., Dennis T. Leaver, and Megan Trad. Washington & Leaver's Principles and Practice of Radiation Therapy. 5th ed. Elsevier, 2021.- Bomford, C. & Kunkler, I. (editors) (2018) Walter and Miller鈥檚 Textbook of Radiotherapy. (8 th edition). Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone - Dobbs, J., Barrett, A., Morris, S.L. & Roques, T (2023) Practical Radiotherapy Planning. (5th edition). London: Hodder Arnold. Supplementary Readings - Brierley, J. D., Gospodarowicz, M. K., & Wittekind, C. (2016). TNM classification of malignant tumours. John Wiley & Sons - Sourati, A., Ameri, A., & Malekzadeh, M. (2017). Acute Side Effects of Radiation Therapy: A Guide to Management. Springer - Bentel, G.C. (2013) Radiation Therapy Planning. (4th edition). New York: McGraw-Hill - Hanna L., Crosby T. & Macbeth. F. (editors) (2008) Practical Clinical Oncology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press - T eedell, C. (2005) Concise Clinical Oncology. London: Elsevier - Wittekind, C., Greene, F.L.., Hutter, R.P.V., Klimpfinger, M. & Sobin, L.H. (2017) TNM Atlas. (8th edition). Berlin: Springer - International Commission of Radiation Units and Measurements (ICRU). (1999). ICRU Report 62: Prescribing, recording and reporting photon beam therapy (supplement to ICRU report 50) - International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurements. (2010). Prescribing, recording, and reporting photon-beam intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) (Report No. 83). Useful websites - American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO). (2019). eContouring. https://econtour.org/cases - European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) (2024). Clinical practice guidelines. https://www.esmo.org/guidelines. |
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| ADDITIONAL NOTES | Please note that a pass in each assessment component is obligatory for an overall pass mark to be awarded. | ||||||||||||||||
| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Practical and Tutorials | ||||||||||||||||
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2025/6. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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