2629 - From Burnout to Balance: Evaluating SimPOD Workload and Well-Being in a High-Volume Radiation Oncology Department

Purpose/Objective(s): The Sim Physicist of the Day (SimPOD) plays a critical role in radiation oncology simulation, ensuring accurate treatment planning and patient safety. However, workflow inefficiencies, scheduling challenges, and unclear role delineation contribute to burnout and reduced efficiency. This initiative aimed to assess SimPOD workload, efficiency, and communication barriers, identify opportunities for workflow standardization and training, and develop targeted interventions to reduce burnout and improve team coordination.

Materials/Methods: A multi-phase evaluation was conducted across photon, proton, and regional teams. Survey responses highlighted challenges in securing SimPOD backup, with many participants reporting difficulties. Radiation therapist’s (RTT) involvement in software workflows yielded mixed opinions, with concerns about training gaps, staffing shortages, and procedural consistency. Workflow standardization and communication improvements led to the need of developing a strengthened incident learning system and increasing efficiency in SimPOD coverage coordination. Additionally, these efforts contributed to broader department-wide changes, aligning with leadership initiatives to redefine clinical coverage and expand physicists' roles in innovation and professional development.

Results: Survey findings informed a structured initiative that included standardizing SimPOD workflows using a structured patient information system to enhance consistency, addressing peak-time scheduling constraints to improve communication and coordination between physicists and RTTs, developing structured training programs including an enhanced incident learning system with feedback loops, post-implementation surveys for newly onboarded staff and residents, and targeted training for procedural consistency, and recommending reforms to the clinical physicist coverage model for improved workload distribution.

Conclusion: This initiative demonstrates the value of structured workflow evaluation, communication enhancements, and training programs in optimizing SimPOD efficiency while reducing burnout. Standardization and improved coordination enhance workflow sustainability without compromising patient safety. Findings have supported broader coverage model reforms, reinforcing the impact of strategic leadership in clinical operations. Future efforts will focus on long-term implementation and measurable improvements in efficiency, sustainability workload distribution, and overall staff well-being.