The current EU education programme may not prepare radiographers for an EU-wide market since it mostly trains the students to comply with national needs and regulations. The results of WP 3 will show how relevant these differences are in regards to the competencies of the linear accelerator radiographers developed in European educational institutions. This WP will build on this knowledge by assessing the perception of European stakeholders on the competency differences between countries, the mobility of professionals and the recognition of qualifications.
The main tool of this WP are interviews with stakeholders. Since it is not feasible to include all stakeholders from all European countries, extreme sampling (aka deviant sampling) will be performed based on the results of WP 3. This means that the most extreme cases are going to be included in order to achieve a good picture of the differences existing in Europe.
For the individuals being interviewed, critical case sampling will be used, where participants are identified as those who will provide the most information on the topic (stakeholders). Interviews with stakeholders will be held during international conferences and meeting where therapy radiographers attend. This convenient sampling will allow us to achieve time and financial efficiency. However, this may limit the number of interviewees. In view of this, additional interviews will be performed; these can be done by online meetings or physical interviews at the sampled countries (until data saturation is obtained).
The interviews will aim to identify competencies that the stakeholders identify as necessary to undertake responsibility in administration of RT treatment in a linear accelerator. The interview also aims to study the stakeholders’ perception of differences in education between countries, patient safety and the risk posed by the movement of these professionals across the EU and issues regarding recognition of qualifications. The results of WP3 are going to be shared with the stakeholders during the interview in order to question the stakeholders about their interpretation of the results. Validity and Reliability tests will be performed.
The stakeholders will include:
- TRs
- Professional associations representatives
- Education institution representatives
- Radiotherapy department managers
- Students
The participation will be on a volunteer basis. Inducements may need to be offered to increase the participation. These inducements may be in the form of a book voucher, educational material or payment of fees to the conference where the interviews are going to be held.
The results of this work package will be distributed to all stakeholders and regulatory bodies across the EU. This will raise awareness of current issues relevant to the profession and present the recommendations in regards to the competencies found necessary for the radiographers.
Lead organisation
University of Malta – UoM (MT)
Participating organisations
- Ulster University – UU (UK)
- European Federation of Radiographer Societies – EFRS (EU)
- Associação Portuguesa dos Radioterapeutas – ART (PT)
- Towarzystwo Naukowe Technikow Medycznych Radioterapii - TNTMR (PL)
- Society of Medical Radiographers (SRM)
Outputs
- Dissemination of results through publications and presentations on the perception of stakeholders regarding linear accelerator TRs’ competencies.
- Oral presentation of the results of the research on stakeholders’ perceptions regarding competencies developed in Europe, migration and recognition of qualifications.The results of the research will be disseminated through presentations at international conferences.
- A presentation of preliminary results may be done at national level.Oral presentations can reach less people than written publications but tend to be more effective in the spreading of results.The date and time of the presentation will be promoted on the consortium’s webpage, LinkedIn, Facebook page and Twitter
The results of the interviews regarding stakeholders’ perception on competencies differences, mobility and recognition of qualifications in Europe will be published in a peer-reviewed open-access scientific journal.A report will provide any relevant additional information. All publications or links will be available on the consortium’s website, LinkedIn, Facebook page and consortium's Twitter.
Webinar lecture plan on underdeveloped skills as eprceived by stakeholders. The competencies identified as underdeveloped by the stakeholders will be identified in this report. It will then be fed into WP 10 where the underdeveloped competencies will be explored in a webinar series.
Impact
Oral presentations at national and/or international conferences.
Contacts
Dr Paul Bezzina, Jose Guilherme Couto, Dr Natasha Azzopardi Muscat