title: Establishing a Global Radiation Oncology Collaboration in Education (GRaCE): Objectives and priorities.
abstract: Representatives from countries and regions world-wide who have implemented modern competency-based radiation- or clinical oncology curricula for training medical specialists, met to determine the feasibility and value of an ongoing international collaboration. In this forum, educational leaders from the ESTRO School, encompassing many European countries adopting the ESTRO Core Curriculum, and clinician educators from Canada, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand considered the training and educational arrangements within their jurisdictions, identifying similarities and challenges between programs. Common areas of educational interest and need were defined, which included development of new competency statements and assessment tools, and the application of the latter. The group concluded that such an international cooperation, which might expand to include others with similar goals, would provide a valuable vehicle to ensure training program currency, through sharing of resources and expertise, and enhance high quality radiation oncology education. Potential projects for the Global Radiation Oncology Collaboration in Education (GRaCE) were agreed upon, as was a strategy designed to maintain momentum. This paper describes the rationale for establishing this collaboration, presents a comparative view of training in the jurisdictions represented, and reports early goals and priorities.
authors.affiliation: Crown Princess Mary Cancer Centre, Westmead Hospital, Sydney, Australia. Electronic address: sandra.turner1@optusnet.com.au.
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Turner
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Odense University Hospital, Denmark.
authors.forename: Jesper G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Eriksen
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, University of Calgary, Canada.
authors.forename: Theresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Trotter
authors.affiliation: ESTRO, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Verfaillie
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Oncology, Cheltenham General Hospital, UK.
authors.forename: Kim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Benstead
authors.affiliation: Princess Margaret Hospital, Toronto, Canada.
authors.forename: Meredith
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Giuliani
authors.affiliation: Radiation Oncology, Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Philip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Poortmans
authors.affiliation: Radiation Oncology, Mater Hospital, Brisbane, Australia.
authors.forename: Tanya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Holt
authors.affiliation: Radiation Oncology, Townsville Hospital, Australia.
authors.forename: Sean
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Brennan
authors.affiliation: Radiation Oncology, Comprehensive Cancer Centre, General Hospital Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pötter
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia; D002170:Canada; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003479:Curriculum; D004503:Education, Medical, Graduate / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D005060:Europe; D006040:Goals; D006801:Humans; D007391:International Cooperation; D018787:Radiation Oncology / Q000193:education*
keywords: Medical education; Post-graduate education; Radiation oncology; Specialty training