College of Southern Nevada Adds A Linear Accelerator To Their Radiation Therapy Program

Radiation Therapy Schools train future radiation therapists on practices and techniques to help radiation oncologists provide the best care possible to their cancer patients. Most schools use educational materials, textbooks, and software to teach these techniques. But the College of Southern Nevada did something more – they installed an actual linear accelerator – the very device that therapists will use to deliver care to cancer patients. We interviewed James Godin, Department Chair and Director of their Radiation Therapy Program, to find out why:

Hi James, tell us a little about the College of Southern Nevada and its Radiation Therapy Program

Since 1971, the College of Southern Nevada has grown to become a leading education institution, being the 5^th largest college of its type in the country. CSN being a single college, multi-campus community college with 4 main campuses in Nevada, Cheyenne, Charleston, Henderson, and Mesquite as well as multiple sites and centers across the Las Vegas valley. At CSN, the students are put first and encouraged to become a better version of themselves.

When students are attending CSN, they learn course materials specifically designed for their degree, but they also learn about themselves in the process. From the moment the student begins their CSN journey, they will have access to a wide range of academic opportunities and unique experiences that will shape them as a person. They will also gain the knowledge and skill sets to succeed in their chosen career path.

As the largest and most ethnically diverse college in Nevada, CSN has made it a priority to provide an affordable, collaborative, and welcoming environment that allows all students to shine. CSN is a fully accredited institution offering hundreds of degrees and certificates in 70 academic programs—with 26 degrees and certificates available entirely online.

The College of Southern Nevada wants students to succeed and keeping our student-to-faculty ratio of 23 to 1 ensures students get the most out of their education. Outside the classroom, we offer a variety of clubs, activities, and organizations to keep them engaged and connected.

Radiation Therapy Program

The Radiation Therapy Program houses our Associate of Applied Science Degree in Radiation Therapy Technology. Students pursuing this degree will be trained to work with radiation oncologists and deliver daily doses of ionizing radiation. Radiation therapists are trained to provide appropriate patient care and apply problem solving techniques and critical thinking skills in the administration of treatment protocols, tumor localization and dosimetry. Students will also participate in supervised clinicals in cancer centers.

Why did you choose to install a linear accelerator there?

Having a linear accelerator on campus allows the instructors to fully prepare the first year students with skills needed when entering the clinical setting. This allows for more time spent on clinical competencies and less time on learning the hand control, machine components, triangulation, positioning, immobilization construction and placement, as well as set ups like whole brain, spinal cord compression, electron fields, prostate, and lung. Students are clinically evaluated on each of these set ups in a clinical practicum exam prior to entering the clinical rotations.

 

CSN students enter the clinical setting with skill sets weeks above the average student not having a linear accelerator at their campus. In addition, the pace that clinics need to maintain due to their patient loads in not ideal for student learning. The students can take their time with the campus linear accelerator until their skills reach the necessary speed to maintain their clinical sites schedule.

All senior students must complete each ARRT patient set up in the presents of the instructors and are evaluated on each of the clinical competencies prior to the Program Director signing off as completed. This ensures the academic staff that every student is competent on each competency required by the ARRT.

What advice would you give students seeking a career in radiation therapy?

Although technology has eased the burden in a radiation therapist’s life, remembering the old school techniques of why things are done that way are very important. In addition, the knowledge base demanded of radiation therapists is surprisingly large and broad which is not surprising if you consider that therapists deal with life and death medical treatments. It can however be very rewarding on many levels. Yet, students must always remember that patients come first and work on EMPATHY with every patient they interact with.

How has teaching changed through your career?

At CSN we continue to teach old school techniques as well as new. It is important to note that the new techniques, arc therapy for example, are often dependent on the computer. However, there are times when these techniques cannot be used, and the therapist must fall back on their basic understanding of the concepts taught with traditional techniques to treat the patient.

Patient care is emphasized and we continue to focus on that with every course. Many programs have adapted to new technology and have moved away from the importance of patient care. Students must remember what these patients have been through and what they will continue to do through their fight with cancer. Caring just doesn’t seem to be an important part of the curriculum any longer (disappointing).

What are the advantages of having an actual linac, lasers, etc. vs. the Vert Simulation software type of solution?

CSN has had the VERT™ system for 10 years now as well as an actual machine. The VERT™ and the linac serve two separate and distinct purposes. The VERT™ machine allows the students to practice physics through water phantoms and diodes, It shows dose clouds, X. Y. and Z plane CT cuts, IMRT set ups with plans and most important, image matching from the console. All things that we use regularly in performing our clinical competency final evaluation.

The linac allows students to perform the actual hands-on experience of radiation therapy. We do still perform basic morning warm-ups on the machine to include laser alignment, mechanical vs hand control function for the table, gantry/collimator digital readouts and spirit level checks. The biggest advantage to having a linac is the hands-on participation from the students. Making immobilization devices, being able to index, perfecting triangulation, using anatomical landmarks to set up 2-D treatment fields, being able to explain the entire treatment process to the patient while they are going through the treatment set-up are all skills, in my opinion, that requires a physical machine in our lab.

By having the best of both worlds, our students enter the clinical setting with the skill sets needed to jump right in with the therapist and work on actual treatments instead of learning the basics in the clinical setting.