Personalizing Approaches to Patient Education Throughout the Radiation Oncology Workflow

Abstract

health care providers during which patients’ unique needs and learning styles can be individualized. Demographic characteristics including male gender and older age have been associated with lower requests for information during RT consultation. 10 Abstract For cancer patients who undergo radiation therapy (RT) at some part of their treatment journey, new knowledge regarding the principles underlying RT, workflow, and side effects can become overwhelming and lead to patient fear and anxiety. Various patient education tools have been implemented in radiation oncology clinics internationally including virtual reality, educational videos, educational sessions, websites, and pamphlets. Although studies have demonstrated that such tools can increase patient knowledge regarding RT and its side effects while also decreasing patient anxiety, it is unclear how best to personalize each patient’s education. Similarly, patient characteristics such as age, gender, literacy level, and cultural considerations can also impact a patient’s need or desire for specific educational tools. Barriers to optimization include cost and resource availability with virtual reality, online misinformation, and pamphlets that may be written at an educational level higher than the average population reading level. The efficacy of different educational methods has been studied at various time points throughout the radiation oncology workflow. Overall, early educational intervention with continued reinforcement throughout the treatment course through an individualized multimodal learning approach is likely to be most effective.