Author: Kristofer K. Kainz, Eenas A. Omari, Eric S. Paulson 👨🔬
Affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Medical College of Wisconsin 🌍
Purpose: We present our therapy physics residency program’s revisions to its training structure, with the goals of more efficient clinical education and preservation of the residency’s clinical support and research components.
Methods: Our program is 36 months long with 12 months included within for research. The original structure consisted of six blocks each six months long; two blocks were research semesters, and the remainder were clinical semesters with multiple concurrent rotations. For “training-based” rotations the resident focused on standard-of-care radiotherapy modalities. For “support-based” rotations the resident performed routine quality assurance and patient-specific measurements. Although this facilitated accounting for clinical-training and research time, having multiple concurrent training-based rotations was inefficient. The new structure adjusts the training-based rotations’ durations, and schedules them sequentially. Support-based rotations are scheduled concurrent to the training-based rotations based on topical compatibility. Resident evaluation is modified to allow preceptors to assess resident comprehension more frequently. Important self-study materials are now mandatory comprehensions completed with preceptors, and end-of-rotation oral exams now take the place of a single mock oral exam.
Results: The revised structure was deployed in 2024. Several apparent advantages stem from the resident’s daily clinical presence during training-based rotations: contact with preceptors is more frequent, on-the-spot assessments of residents is performed, compliance with rotation-specific comprehension readings is improved, and residents are more likely to perform tasks with minimal supervision. Activity logging and evaluations are conducive to tracking software we are implementing. The sequential rotation structure also facilitates incorporating orientation modules and commissioning projects. The residents’ academic output from the research rotations, along with their quality assurance and patient-measurement support, remain at levels prior to re-structuring.
Conclusion: Based on feedback from preceptors and residents, our physics residency rotation re-structuring has improved the quality of clinical education while maintaining the program’s clinical support and research elements and CAMPEP compliance.