Radiotherapy Administration Checklist for Patients Undergoing Radiotherapy: Development and Validation

Abstract

Background: Radiotherapy is the use of high energy ionizing radiation to treat diseases. With newer technological advancements, the application of radiotherapy in cancer treatment is increasing. Administration of radiation therapy requires great precision and competency, hence tools should be available to implement uniformity of care in the procedure of radiotherapy and to reduce medical errors. This necessitates the need of a checklist to serve as a standard guide for the procedure of radiotherapy. The objective of present study was to develop radiotherapy administration checklist for patients undergoing radiotherapy. Materials and methods: Radiotherapy administration checklist was developed by using methodological research design. The checklist was developed in five phases: i) the preliminary phase (including literature review, focused group discussion, assessment of current practices, generation of item pool and preparation of preliminary draft), ii) the validation phase (content validity by modified Delphi technique and construct validation by factor analysis), iii) pilot testing, iv) final try out followed by establishment of reliability (internal consistency and inter-rater reliability), v) evaluation phase. Results: The final draft of Radiotherapy administration Checklist consisting of 29 items was developed and the validity and reliability of the developed tool were established. In content validity, S-CVI/Avg. and S-CVI/UA were 0.97 and 0.79 respectively. Cronbach’s coefficient alpha, and interrater reliability were 0.64 and 0.76 respectively. All 29 items in final checklist were loaded under 8 factors. The checklist developed was found to be a valid and reliable tool for the procedure of Radiotherapy administration. Conclusion: Radiotherapy administration Checklist is a valid and reliable tool with psychometric properties within expected range. The Radiotherapy administration Checklist can be used as a standard tool to ensure safe, uniform and optimal delivery of radiotherapy.