Educational/Clinical Experience - Medical Physics Residency Program

Clinical Rotations

Each resident is assigned to a clinical medical physics staff member to perform clinical tasks under his/her supervision. The OHS clinical structure consists of five clinical rotations with a medical physics resident spending one month on a clinical assignment before rotating to the next assignment. In addition to these rotations, the resident will perform a month-long treatment planning rotation resulting in a resident rotation cycle of six months. This means that the resident will complete approximately four six-month cycles during the two-year residency.

This first cycle is designed to introduce the resident to the clinical duties for each rotation. In the first six-month rotation through the clinical assignments, the resident observes the clinical medical physicist performing the duties of that rotation. During this time they are expected to learn all clinical medical physics responsibilities for each rotation and document all clinical procedures. They will also undergo formalized ethics and professionalism training during this time. The resident has a limited hands-on role during the first cycle of rotations. All duties will be approved by the supervising clinical medical physicist.

The second cycle is designed for the resident to gain more hands-on experience in clinical assignments. The resident is expected to perform all clinical duties in the rotation under the supervision of an OHS clinical medical physicist. Most of the clinical assignments are performed by the resident and approved by the supervising clinical medical physicist.

After completion of the second cycle of rotations (i.e., end of first year of residency), the resident will be credentialed by OHS to independently perform clinical medical physics assignments that do not require board certification. Resident credentialing will be approved by the Program Director and Chief of Medical Physics.

In the second year of the residency, the resident is assigned to regular clinical duties within the Department of Radiation Oncology. The resident independently performs those clinical duties for which they are credentialed. All duties that the resident is not allowed to independently perform continue to be done under the supervision of a clinical medical physicist. In these cases, appropriate documentation will continue to be approved by both the resident and supervising medical physicist.

Independent Projects

In parallel with the clinical assignments, the resident is assigned projects that cover topics not encountered in daily clinic duties (e.g., linac acceptance and commissioning, treatment planning system commissioning and beam modeling, etc.). These are designed to be major projects that require longer periods to complete. These projects have specific goals and end points. They also require the resident to read and become familiar with appropriate materials (e.g., AAPM Task Group reports, journal articles, etc.) related to the project. These projects are designed to be completed outside of assigned clinical duties.

The resident is assigned to a mentor for the duration of each project. The mentor provides the resident a written project description with the expected goals and objectives for the project. This description also includes a list of topical references which the resident is expected to read and understand. The mentor provides initial instruction related to the performance of the project (e.g., operation of equipment). The resident is expected to independently perform all tasks required to complete the project. Throughout the duration of the project, the mentor is available for questions and additional instruction or information as needed.

Upon completion of the project, the resident submits a written report documenting all tasks completed as required by the project mentor. The report includes appropriate documents and data specific to the project.

Additional Duties

In addition to the clinical rotations and independent projects, the resident participates in any clinically-relevant major projects that may arise that are not specifically covered in the clinical and project assignments. These include, but are not limited to:

• Acceptance testing and commissioning of new equipment
• Testing and implementation of new treatment techniques
• Implementation of new equipment and procedures
• Clinically-related development projects

Resident involvement in these additional projects will not detract from the clinical assignment and independent project requirements described above.

Second-year residents are involved in the training of first-year residents as allowed by clinical and project schedules. This role is intended to develop the resident supervisory skills within a clinical setting. The second-year resident does not formally oversee clinical duties assigned to the first-year resident, but assists in development of skills necessary for completion of projects assigned to the first-year resident (e.g., set-up and operation of scanning systems, operation of linear accelerators, IMRT QA, etc.).

Typical Two-Year Resident Rotation