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Patient wait times for daily outpatient radiotherapy appointments (a single-centre study)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 March 2023

Soumya Roy Open the ORCID record for Soumya Roy [Opens in a new window] ,
Biplab Sarkar Open the ORCID record for Biplab Sarkar [Opens in a new window] ,
Anirudh Pradhan Open the ORCID record for Anirudh Pradhan [Opens in a new window] ,
Anusheel Munshi  and
Rohit Chauhan
Soumya Roy*
Affiliation:
Manipal Hospital, Dwarka, India GLA University Mathura, UP, India
Biplab Sarkar
Affiliation:
GLA University Mathura, UP, India Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals, Kolkata, India
Anirudh Pradhan
Affiliation:
GLA University Mathura, UP, India
Anusheel Munshi
Affiliation:
Manipal Hospital, Dwarka, India
Rohit Chauhan
Affiliation:
Manipal Hospital, Dwarka, India GLA University Mathura, UP, India
*
Author for correspondence: Soumya Roy, Manipal Hospital, Dwarka, India. E-mail: soumyaroy91@gmail.com
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Abstract

Purpose:

Patient wait time for every single fraction of every patient treated at our centre for the past year has been presented in this study. The waiting time data were analysed across different treatment sites and modalities.

Materials and Methods:

Between March 2021 and March 2022, all patients and their corresponding recorded measurements of waiting time were analysed. Times recorded included check-in time (CK), scheduled time to start treatment (SC) and beam-on time for the first beam of therapy (ST). SPSS version 18 was used for statistical calculations, correlations and assessing significance.

Results:

A total of 181 patients were treated during this duration. The total number of radiotherapy (RT) sessions recorded was 3011. Out of these 3011 sessions, number of times treated by rapid arc (RA), intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3DCRT), stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT), stereotactic radiosurgery and stereotactic radiotherapy (SRS/SRT) were 68.18%, 30.19%, 0.167%, 0.565% and 0.19%, respectively. The mean (± standard deviation) times for scheduled time to start treatment (SC) to check-in time (CK), SC to ST (beam-on time for the first beam of treatment), CK to ST and (CK or SC) to ST were −14 ± 48 min, 6 ± 50 min, 19 ± 24 min and −4 ± 31 min, respectively.

Conclusion:

Patient wait times during RT were presented in this study. This study covered the daily waiting times before RT during modern-day RT treatment sessions. This vast series of consecutive patient data will be a valuable resource for the future planning and management of any modern RT department.

Keywords

appointmentsdailyoutpatient radiotherapywait times
Type
Original Article
Information
Journal of Radiotherapy in Practice , Volume 22 , 2023 , e88
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press

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