Ability of radiation therapists to assess radiation‐induced skin toxicity

Radiation therapy has seen enhancement of the radiation therapist ( RT ) role, with RT s and nurses performing duties that were traditionally in the radiation oncologist's ( RO ) domain. This study aimed to assess whether RT s can consistently grade radiation‐induced skin toxicity and their concordance with the gradings given by RO s. Method Digital photographs of skin reactions were taken at weeks 1, 3 and 6 of radiotherapy on nine patients with breast cancer. The randomly ordered photographs were reviewed once by eight RO s and four RO registrars and on two occasions separated by 6 weeks by 17 RT s. All graded the skin toxicities using the revised R adiation T herapy O ncology G roup system. Results No significant difference was seen between the median scores of the RT s at the first scoring session and the RO / R egistrar group. The RT s at both measurement times showed greater inter‐rater reliability than the RO / R egistrars (W = 0.6866, time 1 and 0.6981 time 2, vs. 0.6517), with the experienced RT s the most consistent (W = 0.7078). The RT s also showed high intra‐rater reliability (rho = 0.8461, P  < 0.0010). Conclusion These results from RT s with no specific preparation indicate that experienced RT s could assess breast cancer skin toxicity as part of their role.