UCLA Journal of Radiation Oncology SUMMER 2024 - Flipbook - Page 47
UCLA RADIATION ONCOLOGY JOURNAL
TRAINING OTHERS
AROUND THE WORLD
““You do it to help the greater group of nurses, and I’ve gone from really
enjoying my job to tapping into something much greater, which has been
very fulfilling. ”
Brachytherapy is a targeted, high dose of radiation delivered internally to treat cancers.
Although UCLA Health has one of the leading programs in the world for this treatment, it’s
something that few people—including those in the health care field— know much about.
Kayla Kafka-Peterson, BSN, RN, is on a mission to change that.
Kafka-Peterson, a Radiation Oncology Supervisor, provides program oversight for the UCLA
Brachytherapy Division at UCLA Health. She started in the department as a clinical nurse in
2012 and has since moved to a managerial role.
The department performs brachytherapy throughout the health care system.
“We have ORs, lots of anesthesia cases; we do pre-op, intra-op, post-op, and care for
ambulatory to ICU-level patients,” Kafka-Peterson says. “We care for patients with HDR (high
dose rate) brachytherapy implants in place.”
What they didn’t have – in fact, what nobody in health care seemed to have – was
brachytherapy training or onboarding materials for nurses.
“Throughout the world, for the treatment we do, there was no nursing content, resources,
guidance or education for nurses. It was all geared toward doctors and physicists,” she says.
“Despite this treatment being an established cancer treatment, there was nothing to train
nurses with and no best practices.”
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