Author: Lily Jo Bertemes, Careesa Billante, Ashley Cetnar, Maximilian Stephen Meineke, Runhe Tan 👨🔬
Affiliation: The Ohio State University James Cancer Hospital, The James Cancer Center, The Ohio State University, The Ohio State University - James Cancer Hospital 🌍
Purpose: Accessibility is a topic of increasing importance in many fields, and medical physics is no exception. While the traditional educational pathway presents a plethora of challenges for the visually impaired, this does not necessarily mean that the field is entirely inaccessible. The goal of this study is to determine if the traditional pathway into medical physics is possible for someone with low or no vision.
Methods: A survey was created in Microsoft Forms consisting of multiple-choice, matrix table for Likert scale responses, and free-response questions. The recipients of the survey included directors and educators in CAMPEP-accredited graduate and residency programs and current students and residents. The survey was distributed via email to program directors listed on the CAMPEP website and emailed via MedPhysListServ.
Results: Educators from graduate programs (n=24) and residency programs (n=19) completed the survey. Results from the survey showed a wide range of interpretations from educators in perceived ability of students with visual impairments completing graduate studies and residency education. The average response from educators for completing a graduate degree (3.9±1.3) was positive and neutral (3.0±1.2) for completing a residency on a 5-point scale. Individual courses were assessed for how essential vision was for completion of the class, with results ranging on average from 1.5-2.9 depending on the required course assessed on a 4-point scale, where 4 represents vision as essential. Topical groups of therapy residency competencies ranged from 1.9-3.1 depending on the specific tasks required.
Conclusion: This is the first study exploring accommodations for learners with visual impairment within medical physics. While survey responses vary between individuals, the data from this survey will inform the medical physics community of how we can better accommodate the visually impaired and also inform the blind and low vision of the accessibility of medical physics as a career.