Postgraduate - UnitRTP4103 - Specialised techniques in radiation therapy

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2015 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 2, 0.125 EFTSL

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.

Level	Postgraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences
Organisational Unit	Department of Medical Imaging and Radiation Sciences
Offered	Clayton First semester 2015 (Online) Clayton Second semester 2015 (Online)
Coordinator(s)	Ms Caroline Wright

Synopsis

This unit is a foundation unit of the Master of Advanced Radiation Therapy practice. It will demonstrate how the principles of evidence based health care practice apply to the specialised radiation therapy techniques of Tomotherapy, Proton Therapy, Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT), and stereotactic radiosurgery/radiation therapy equipment such as Cyberknife and Gammaknife. Students will gain in-depth knowledge of the quality assurance and physical principles underpinning each of these specialized radiation therapy techniques. Analytical skills will also be developed in relation to the planning, treatment and verification processes for each technique. In addition, students will analyse novel dose and fractionation regimes with respect to radiobiological models.

Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

Operationalize the principles of evidence based health care practice to the delivery of specialised radiation therapy techniques in the clinical context.
Describe in detail the physical principles and equipment required to deliver a range of specialised radiation therapy techniques.
Critically analyse the role that quality assurance and quality management systems play in the implementation and day-to-day use of specialised radiation therapy techniques.
Appraise the planning and dosimetry principles for a range of specialised radiation therapy techniques.
Evaluate and reflect on approaches to treatment delivery using a range of specialised radiation therapy techniques.
Analyse the approaches to treatment verification for a range of specialised radiation therapy techniques.

Assessment

Scientific essay (4,000 words) (50%)
2 x Reflective Moodle discussion submissions (500 words each) (20%)
Individual structured oral presentation (20 minutes) (30%)

Workload requirements

Off-campus: 12 hours per week for 12 weeks.

Chief examiner(s)

Ms Caroline Wright

Co-requisites

Must be enrolled in course M6001.