ASTRO Survey Reveals Radiation Therapy Workforce Crisis

5/27/2003

From: Aislinn Raedy of ASTRO, 800-962-7876, e-mail: aislinnr@astro.org

WASHINGTON, May 27 -- Radiation therapy departments are facing severe staffing shortages, according to a new study in the June 2003 issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology and Physics, the official journal of ASTRO, the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology.

The effects of the current radiation therapy workforce crisis are felt in radiation oncology departments across the country. To assess the extent of the problem, the ASTRO Workforce Committee conducted a survey of the Society's members to gauge their personnel needs.

The ASTRO Workforce Committee, in conjunction with Leever Research Associates, prepared a concise, one-page survey and distributed it to 3,174 ASTRO members, representing 1,400 radiation oncology practice centers. Group practice members were requested to submit one survey per group. The response rate to the survey was 91 percent.

On average, each radiation oncology center has about 14 radiation oncology healthcare professionals on staff. This includes radiation therapists, dosimetrists, physicians and radiation oncology nurses. For private practices, the average number of professionals is 12, while academic departments typically have 24 radiation oncology professionals on staff.

According to the survey, a shortage of 2.6 radiation oncology healthcare professionals exists per practice (2.4 for private practices versus 3.7 for academic centers). On average, practices across the U.S. have a shortage of 18.3 percent of radiation therapists (15.5 percent in academic practices, 19.1 percent in private practices). Overall, this represents a current nationwide need of approximately 1,800 additional therapists.

Although small relative differences in need exist across the nine geographic regions of the country (i.e., 13.9 percent shortage of therapists in the North Central-Midwest versus 22.3 in the Pacific West), remarkable consistencies in shortages exist across the country and among all healthcare professional groups within radiation oncology. A significant majority of respondents felt that the shortage has a moderate to significant impact on issues ranging from the number of hours worked to the quality of patient care. Forty-one percent of respondents felt that the shortage has had a moderate to significant impact on the quality of patient care, and 37 percent noted a slight impact.

ASTRO, in concert with several related organizations, has implemented a number of approaches to reduce this human resource deficit. Recent efforts include a grant program to increase the number and size of RT(T) training programs as well as the development and distribution of a recruitment video to high schools, junior colleges and other establishments. Distance-based or Internet learning approaches are also working to improve the shortage. There were no distance-based RT(T) training programs in the mid-1990s, and today there are three, with five more expected within the next year. The Workforce Committee feels that this approach is working well and is poised to expand rapidly.

"An aging workforce, coupled with aging baby boomers, will increase attrition from the specialty just as demand for radiation therapy is rising rapidly," says Workforce Committee Chair J. Robert Cassady, M.D. "Optimistic assessments suggest that the problem of shortages of professionals in radiation oncology will not be solved for at least five years, although more reasonably it will be eight or 10 years before the problem is fixed, despite notable gains in graduates. Because the workforce shortage exists across all radiation oncology healthcare professionals, many therapists are likely to migrate into different areas within the discipline in the coming years, further increasing the need for practicing therapists - especially with the increased use of 3D conformal therapy and IMRT, which have high personnel requirements."

The American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology is the largest radiation oncology society in the world, with more than 7,000 members who specialize in treating patients with radiation therapies. As a leading organization in radiation oncology, biology and physics, the Society's mission is to advance the practice of radiation oncology by promoting excellence in patient care, providing opportunities for educational and professional development, promoting research and disseminating research results and representing radiation oncology in a rapidly evolving socioeconomic healthcare environment.