Learn & Unite - a staff-driven in-service program

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic affected everyone globally and at different levels, including staff education and training. Learning and sharing knowledge is key to successful development of the profession and patient service.1 Various workplace restrictions were in place during COVID-19 lockdowns, especially in medical settings.2 Any traditional education forums using face-to-face formats - including seminars, lectures or inservices - were halted. To help alleviate this disruption to education and training, our staff were consulted via an internal survey for input into an in-service program. A new initiative using technology to run the in-service program for the past 18 months was established. Zoom was readily used across the Victoria practice and interstate. Various topics were suggested by the team;therefore the program was a multi-disciplinary approach involving radiation therapists, radiation oncologists, physicists, allied health and management. A feedback survey was conducted after the 18 months in-service and had a huge staff satisfaction score (over 4.5 out of 5) for the content and program design. A staff-driven directive was one of the key factors of the program's success. Staff felt there was continuation of education as well as full engagement and collaboration with the wider teams. On average, each session had 60 staff attend. The in-service program will continue to run in a similar way in the near future. It is critical to give staff the flexibility and opportunity to collaborate broadly.