Improving the Integration between Palliative Radiotherapy and Supportive Care: A Narrative Review
Palliative radiotherapy (PRT) is known to be effective in relieving cancer related symptoms. However, many studies and clinical practice show several barriers hindering its use and worsening the quality of patient support during PRT. Various solutions were proposed to overcome these barriers: traini...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2022-10-01
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| Series: | Current Oncology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1718-7729/29/10/627 |
| _version_ | 1827650739708624896 |
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| author | Erica Scirocco Francesco Cellini Costanza Maria Donati Jenny Capuccini Romina Rossi Milly Buwenge Luigi Montanari Marco Maltoni Alessio Giuseppe Morganti |
| author_facet | Erica Scirocco Francesco Cellini Costanza Maria Donati Jenny Capuccini Romina Rossi Milly Buwenge Luigi Montanari Marco Maltoni Alessio Giuseppe Morganti |
| author_sort | Erica Scirocco |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Palliative radiotherapy (PRT) is known to be effective in relieving cancer related symptoms. However, many studies and clinical practice show several barriers hindering its use and worsening the quality of patient support during PRT. Various solutions were proposed to overcome these barriers: training on PRT for supportive and palliative care specialists and training on palliative care for radiation oncologists, and introduction of pathways and organizational models specifically dedicated to PRT. Evidence on innovative organizational models and mutual training experiences is few and sparse. Therefore, the aim of this literature review is to present a quick summary of the information available on improving the PRT quality through training, new pathways, and innovative organizational models. The majority of studies on the integration of PRT with other palliative and supportive therapies present low levels of evidence being mostly retrospective analyses. However, it should be emphasized that all reports uniformly showed advantages coming from the integration of PRT with supportive therapies. To actively participate in the integration of PRT and palliative care, providing comprehensive support to the needs of patients with advanced cancer, radiation oncologists should not only plan PRT but also: (i) assess and manage symptoms and stress, (ii) rapidly refer patients to specialists in management of more complex symptoms, and (iii) participate in multidisciplinary palliative care teams. To this end, improved education in palliative care both in residency schools and during professional life through continuous medical education is clearly needed. In particular, effective training is needed for radiotherapy residents to enable them to provide patients with comprehensive palliative care. Therefore, formal teaching of adequate duration, interactive teaching methods, attendance in palliative care services, and education in advanced palliative care should be planned in post-graduated schools of radiotherapy. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T20:23:15Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5f73e8c4a2fa483e870a7264747d461f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1198-0052 1718-7729 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T20:23:15Z |
| publishDate | 2022-10-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Current Oncology |
| spelling | doaj.art-5f73e8c4a2fa483e870a7264747d461f2023-11-23T23:41:18ZengMDPI AGCurrent Oncology1198-00521718-77292022-10-0129107932794210.3390/curroncol29100627Improving the Integration between Palliative Radiotherapy and Supportive Care: A Narrative ReviewErica Scirocco0Francesco Cellini1Costanza Maria Donati2Jenny Capuccini3Romina Rossi4Milly Buwenge5Luigi Montanari6Marco Maltoni7Alessio Giuseppe Morganti8Radiation Oncology, IRCCS Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Bologna, 40138 Bologna, ItalyUOC di Radioterapia Oncologica, Dipartimento di Diagnostica per Immagini, Radioterapia Oncologica ed Ematologia, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario “A. Gemelli” IRCCS, 00185 Roma, ItalyRadiation Oncology, IRCCS Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Bologna, 40138 Bologna, ItalyPalliative Care Unit, AUSL Romagna (Local Health Authority), 48022 Lugo, ItalyIRCCS Istituto Romagnolo per lo Studio dei Tumori (IRST) “Dino Amadori”, 47014 Meldola, ItalyDepartment of Experimental, Diagnostic and Specialty Medicine, Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, 40138 Bologna, ItalyPalliative Care Unit, AUSL Romagna (Local Health Authority), 48022 Lugo, ItalyDepartment of Experimental, Diagnostic and Specialty Medicine, Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, 40138 Bologna, ItalyRadiation Oncology, IRCCS Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Bologna, 40138 Bologna, ItalyPalliative radiotherapy (PRT) is known to be effective in relieving cancer related symptoms. However, many studies and clinical practice show several barriers hindering its use and worsening the quality of patient support during PRT. Various solutions were proposed to overcome these barriers: training on PRT for supportive and palliative care specialists and training on palliative care for radiation oncologists, and introduction of pathways and organizational models specifically dedicated to PRT. Evidence on innovative organizational models and mutual training experiences is few and sparse. Therefore, the aim of this literature review is to present a quick summary of the information available on improving the PRT quality through training, new pathways, and innovative organizational models. The majority of studies on the integration of PRT with other palliative and supportive therapies present low levels of evidence being mostly retrospective analyses. However, it should be emphasized that all reports uniformly showed advantages coming from the integration of PRT with supportive therapies. To actively participate in the integration of PRT and palliative care, providing comprehensive support to the needs of patients with advanced cancer, radiation oncologists should not only plan PRT but also: (i) assess and manage symptoms and stress, (ii) rapidly refer patients to specialists in management of more complex symptoms, and (iii) participate in multidisciplinary palliative care teams. To this end, improved education in palliative care both in residency schools and during professional life through continuous medical education is clearly needed. In particular, effective training is needed for radiotherapy residents to enable them to provide patients with comprehensive palliative care. Therefore, formal teaching of adequate duration, interactive teaching methods, attendance in palliative care services, and education in advanced palliative care should be planned in post-graduated schools of radiotherapy.https://www.mdpi.com/1718-7729/29/10/627literature reviewradiotherapypalliativesupportive caretrainingorganizational models |
| spellingShingle | Erica Scirocco Francesco Cellini Costanza Maria Donati Jenny Capuccini Romina Rossi Milly Buwenge Luigi Montanari Marco Maltoni Alessio Giuseppe Morganti Improving the Integration between Palliative Radiotherapy and Supportive Care: A Narrative Review Current Oncology literature review radiotherapy palliative supportive care training organizational models |
| title | Improving the Integration between Palliative Radiotherapy and Supportive Care: A Narrative Review |
| title_full | Improving the Integration between Palliative Radiotherapy and Supportive Care: A Narrative Review |
| title_fullStr | Improving the Integration between Palliative Radiotherapy and Supportive Care: A Narrative Review |
| title_full_unstemmed | Improving the Integration between Palliative Radiotherapy and Supportive Care: A Narrative Review |
| title_short | Improving the Integration between Palliative Radiotherapy and Supportive Care: A Narrative Review |
| title_sort | improving the integration between palliative radiotherapy and supportive care a narrative review |
| topic | literature review radiotherapy palliative supportive care training organizational models |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1718-7729/29/10/627 |
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