title: Evaluation of time, attendance of medical staff, and resources during radiotherapy for head and neck cancer patients: the DEGRO-QUIRO trial.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A number of national and international societies have published recommendations regarding the required equipment and manpower that is assumed to be necessary to treat a specific number of patients with radiotherapy. None of these recommendations were based on actual time measurements needed for specific radiotherapy procedures. The German Society of Radiation Oncology (DEGRO) was interested in substantiating their recommendations by prospective evaluations of all important core procedures of radiotherapy in the most frequent cancer treated by radiotherapy. The results of the examinations of radiotherapy in head and neck cancer (HNC) patients are presented in this manuscript.
  
  
  METHODS
  Four radiation therapy centers (University of Jena, University of Erlangen, University of Düsseldorf and the community hospital of Neuruppin) participated in this prospective study. Working time of the different occupational groups and room occupancies for the core procedures of radiotherapy in HNC were prospectively documented during a 4-month period and subsequently statistically analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The time needed per patient varied considerably between individual patients and between centers for all evaluated procedures. Room occupancy, presence of technicians, and overall medical staff times were 21 min, 26 min, and 42 min, respectively, for planning CT with i.v. contrast medium (n = 79), and 23 min, 44 min, and 51 min respectively, for planning CT without contrast medium (n = 45). Definition of the target volume (n = 91) was the most time consuming procedure for the physicians taking 1 h 45 min on average. Medical physicists spent a mean time of 3 h 8 min on physical treatment planning (n = 97) and 1 h 8 min on authorization of the treatment plan (n = 71). Treatment simulations (n = 185) required an average room occupancy of 23 min, and a mean technicians presence of 47 min. The mean room occupancy (n = 84) was 24 min for the first radiotherapy including portal imaging associated with a mean presence of the technicians of 53 min. For routine radiotherapy sessions (n = 2,012) and routine radiotherapy sessions including portal imaging (n = 407), mean room occupancies were 13 min and 16 min, respectively. The presence of increasing number of technicians was significantly associated with shorter room occupancy. IMRT including portal imaging (n = 213) required an average room occupancy of 24 min and a mean technician time of 48 min.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The data presented here allow an estimate of the required machine time and manpower needed for the core procedures of radiotherapy in an average head and neck cancer patient treated with a specific number of fractions. However, one has to be aware that a number of necessary and time consuming activities were not evaluated in the present study.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany. wilfried.budach@uni-duesseldorf.de
authors.forename: Wilfried
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Budach
authors.forename: Edwin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bölke
authors.forename: Rainer
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fietkau
authors.forename: Andre
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Buchali
authors.forename: Thomas G
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: Wendt
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Popp
authors.forename: Christiane
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Matuschek
authors.forename: Horst
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sack
mesh_terms: D001071:Appointments and Schedules; D001509:Bed Occupancy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003287:Contrast Media / Q000008:administration & dosage; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D008505:Medical Staff, Hospital / Q000600:supply & distribution; D010039:Otorhinolaryngologic Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011878:Radiotherapy / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011880:Radiotherapy Planning, Computer-Assisted / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012955:Societies, Medical; D013996:Time and Motion Studies; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media