Inside News

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Profile and Presence
Volume 12 No 3 I June 2016 19
Congratulations to Dr Peter Goryski
whose abstract ‘Targeting Cancer:
Results of a National Radiation
Oncology Advocacy Platform aimed
at General Practitioners (GPs) and
Consumers’ has been accepted for
an oral presentation at GP 16—the
annual scientific meeting of The
Royal Australian College of General
Practitioners, which is being held at the
Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre
from 29 September to 1 October 2016.
This is a great opportunity to reach out
to a larger GP community and improve
their knowledge of radiation therapy.
Targets in GP Waiting Rooms
You may recall that late last year
Targeting Cancer entered into a
partnership with Tonic Health Media
(THM), an evidence-based patient
education and entertainment system for
GPs, other clinicians and hospital waiting
areas. The aim of this project was to
direct more people to our website and
encourage more conversations between
patients and GPs on whether radiation
therapy is a suitable treatment option.
Throughout November 2015, February
and March 2016, The Targets video was
played 55,524 times in waiting rooms
across Australia on the THM Networks
across 954 sites from where over 5,300
GPs operate. It is estimated that the
video has reached an audience of over
3.6 million people.
First Documentary about
Radiation Therapy
Earlier in the year, we worked in
collaboration with THM to produce a
documentary called Below the Radar.
This first documentary about radiation
therapy was broadcast on ABC News24
on 6 and 7 February, and was viewed
by more than 92,000 people, and on
ABCTV iView 24,400 times.
Please visit
or to watch
the videos and share within your network
to spread the word on radiation therapy.
ESTRO 2016
Dr Lucinda Morris (radiation oncology
trainee) showcased the Targeting Cancer
GP Education program at ESTRO 35
which was held in Turin, Italy between 29
April and 3 May.
Lucinda’s presentation, ‘Targeting
General Practitioners: Prospective
Outcomes of Nationwide GP Education
Program’ reported on the learning
outcomes of a national education
program aimed at improving GP
knowledge about radiation therapy
and referral pathways to radiation
oncologists.
The GP education evenings, an
initiative of the Targeting Cancer public
awareness campaign, were developed
and launched in 2014. The two-hour
sessions were held in radiation oncology
departments and consisted of an
interactive case-based learning session,
followed by a guided physical tour of
the radiation oncology department.
Pre and post session surveys were
administered to 174 participating GPs
at 18 sessions held at different centres
across Australia.
The survey assessed four key domains:
objective knowledge about radiation
therapy, satisfaction regarding referral
pathways to radiation oncologists,
self-reported referral behaviours and
feedback on the session itself.
Of note, prior to attending 96 per cent
of GPs reported their knowledge of
radiation therapy required improvement.
Post-session 95 per cent rated their
knowledge as ‘excellent’, ‘above
average’ or ‘competent’. The proportion
of GPs correctly answering objective
knowledge questions rose from 50 per
cent to 82 per cent.
96 per cent felt it was the GPs’ role
to refer cancer patients to relevant
specialists to discuss treatment options.
However before the session nearly
half the GPs indicated they were not
comfortable referring directly to a
radiation oncologist. Following the
session 92 per cent felt they would
be comfortable referring directly to a
radiation oncologist. Overall, more than
one-third of GPs were not aware of the
location of their local radiation oncology
department and three-quarters reported
their patients would benefit from having
clearer referral pathways to radiation
oncologists.
100 per cent of respondents felt the
session improved their understanding of
the role of radiation therapy and would
recommend the session to colleagues,
and all were interested in attending
similar future sessions. Dr Morris and
co-authors A/Prof Sandra Turner and Dr
Peter Gorayski concluded that a national
standardised GP education program
can significantly improve GP knowledge
of the core radiation therapy concepts
and likely influence patient referrals for
radiation therapy.
If you are interested in hosting a GP
Oncology Education Evening, please
contact us on
Targeting Cancer Raises the
Profile of Radiation Oncology
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