Examining the Effect of Direct Patient Care for Medical Physicists: A Randomized Prospective Phase III Trial

Abstract

Purpose: Our purpose was to investigate the effect of physicist-patient consults on patient anxiety and patient satisfaction with a randomized prospective phase III clinical trial.

Methods and materials: Sixty-six patients were randomly assigned to the physics direct patient care (PDPC) arm or the control arm of the trial. Patients assigned to the PDPC arm received 2 physicist-patient consults to educate them on the technical aspects of their radiation therapy, while patients assigned to the control arm received the standard of care (ie, standard radiation therapy workflow without any additional physicist-patient consults). Questionnaires were administered to all patients at 4 time points (after enrollment, after the simulation, after the first treatment, and after the last treatment) to assess anxiety and satisfaction.

Results: The decrease in anxiety for the PDPC arm, compared with the control arm, was statistically significant at the first treatment (P = .027) time point. The increase in technical satisfaction for the PDPC arm, compared with the control arm, was statistically significant at the simulation (P = .005), first treatment (P < .001), and last treatment (P = .002) time points. The increase in overall satisfaction for the PDPC arm, compared with the control arm, was statistically significant at the first treatment (P = .014) and last treatment (P = .001) time points.

Conclusions: Physicist-patient consults improved the patient experience by decreasing anxiety and increasing satisfaction. Future work is needed to modify current radiation oncology workflows and medical physics responsibilities to allow all patients to benefit from this advancement in patient care.