Lukasz M. Mazur, PhD, assistant professor in the UNC School of Medicine Department of Radiation Oncology, was first author, and Lawrence B. Marks, MD, UNC Lineberger member, chair of the UNC School of Medicine Department of Radiation Oncology and the Dr. Sidney K. Simon Distinguished Professorship of Oncology Research, was senior author of a study published in the journal Practical Radiation Oncology.
For the study, researchers designed and assessed the impact of a simulation-based training intervention on radiation oncology professionals workload and performance during interactions with health information technology (health IT) while conducting treatment planning and quality assurance tasks.
Eighteen radiation oncology professionals completed two clinical scenarios in a simulation laboratory. Researchers measured their workload at the end of each scenario, and quantified their performance. The radiation oncology professionals were randomized to receive a training intervention between the sessions. From the study, researchers concluded that simulation-based training may be a tool to improve procedural compliance and acquire necessary skills and knowledge to proactively maintain their preoccupation with patient safety in rapidly evolving health IT ecosystem.
In addition to Mazur and Marks, other authors included: Prithima R. Mosaly, PhD, of the Department of Radiation Oncology and Carolina Health Informatics Program; Gregg Traction, BSE, of the Department of Radiation Oncology; Marjorie P. Stiegler, MD, of the Department of Anesthesiology; Robert D. Adams, EdD, of the Department of Radiation Oncology; and Bhishamjit S. Chera, MD, of the Department of Radiation Oncology.
This research was supported by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality grant No. R18HS023458.
The researchers offered special thanks to: Sha Chang, PhD; Julian Rosenman, PhD; Kathy Burkhardt, MS; Lesley Hoyle, CMD; Mariko Gagai, CMD; David Chang, CMD; Caitlyn Leddy, CMD; Trevor Cook, CMD; and Elizabeth Comitz, MS; for their assistance in developing and administering the scenarios and/or simulation-based training, and to Mark Kostich, CMD, for his support in developing images necessary for our simulated cases. They also offered thanks to all participants for their time and effort while participating in the experiments.