The Ontario Radiation Therapy Advanced Practice (ORTAP) group began exploring the introduction of advanced practice for radiation therapists in 2003 in response to unprecedented and well-documented challenges in the radiation treatment environment.
Unique local service pressures, related to specific demographic or professional challenges, treatment delays, service expansion, health human resource issues in cancer-related disciplines, care gaps, and a desire for quality improvement and rapid adoption of innovation led the radiation therapy community to begin examining ways in which the provision of radiation treatment could be improved.
A preliminary examination by the ORTAP Steering Committee concluded that there was interest and value in piloting advanced practice roles in radiation therapy. These efforts ultimately led to the collaboration with Cancer Care Ontario and the eventual submission of a proposal to the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care which led to the development of several projects: 1) the Advanced Practice for Radiation Therapists (APRT) Development Project, 2) the Clinical Specialist Radiation Therapist (CSRT) Demonstration Project and 3) the CSRT Sustainability Project.