Author: Courtney R. Buckey, Jay W. Burmeister, Minsong Cao, Grace Chang, Yu Kuang, Yixiang Liao, Yi Rong, Dandan Zheng 👨🔬
Affiliation: Mayo Clinic, Mayo Clinic Arizona, Karmanos Cancer Center, Gershenson ROC, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Department of Radiation Oncology, University of California, Los Angeles, Medical Physics Program, University of Nevada, Rush University Medical Center, University of Rochester 🌍
Purpose: Investigate the adequacy of training for therapeutic medical physics residents in select special procedures.
Methods: After a review of existing literature, a multi-institutional group developed a relevant list of special procedures not previously surveyed. Questions were collectively reviewed, vetted and distributed over four weeks using Qualtrics to physicists and residents across several institutions. Analysis was done in Python v3.11.9. Respondents selected their tier of competency (current for physicists or expected upon graduation for residents) for each item. Additional questions allowed stratification based on stage of career, active implementation in their clinic, technical vs soft skills, and desired additional training.
Results: A total of 55 responses were received. There was a 21:10:24 split of current residents:junior physicists(<5yrs):senior physicists(5+ yrs). 90.9% of respondents worked in academic hospitals (88.2%:95.9% physicist:resident). Of the ten most common special procedures in the clinics surveyed, only half are covered by Report 249 in any capacity, leaving techniques as common as image guidance (100%) and surface guidance (87%) without training guidelines. Interestingly, among the top ten, several “elective rotations” in Report 249 such as Total Skin Electron Therapy (TSET), Gamma Knife and Cyberknife showed a comparable if not higher median level of competency among residents than all physicists. Junior or below median competency is seen for Spatially Fractionated Radiation Therapy, Radiopharmaceutical Therapy, Biologically-guided adaptive radiation therapy, and Proton Therapy for both residents and physicists. The MR-Linac, CBCT/MR Adaptive Radiation Therapy (ART) and Proton therapy had the highest demand among residents without access to them.
Conclusion: Evolving practice necessitates additional training guidelines in medical physics. This pilot survey provides insight into the characteristics and needs of medical physics training programs and the value of the forthcoming update to Report 249. A formally administered survey to broaden the sample size and variety is planned through SDAMPP.