Academic Program Recommendations for Graduate Degrees in Medical Physics

The Professional Doctorate in Medical Physics (DMP) was originally conceived as a solution to the shortage of medical physics residency training positions. While this shortage has now been largely satisfied through conventional residency training positions, the DMP has expanded to multiple institutions and grown into an educational pathway that provides specialized clinical training and extends well beyond the creation of additional training spots. As such, it is important to reevaluate the purpose and the value of the DMP. Additionally, it is important to outline the defining characteristics of the DMP to assure that all existing and future programs provide this anticipated value. Since the formation and subsequent accreditation of the first DMP program in 2009-2010, four additional programs have been created and accredited. However, no guidelines have yet been recommended by the American Association of Physicists in Medicine. CAMPEP accreditation of these programs has thus far been based only on the respective graduate and residency program standards. This allows the development and operation of DMP programs which contain only the requisite Master of Science (MS) coursework and a 2-year clinical training program. Since the MS plus 2-year residency pathway already exists, this form of DMP does not provide added value, and one may question why this existing pathway should be considered a doctorate. Not only do we, as a profession, need to outline the defining characteristics of the DMP, we need to carefully evaluate the potential advantages and disadvantages of this pathway within our education and training infrastructure. The aims of this report from the Working Group on the Professional Doctorate Degree for Medical Physicists (WGPDMP) are to (1) describe the current state of the DMP within the profession, (2) make recommendations on the structure and content of the DMP for existing and new DMP programs, and (3) evaluate the value of the DMP to the profession of medical physics. K E Y W O R D S DMP, medical physics graduate education, professional doctorate degree 1 BACKGROUND In 2014, completion of an accredited residency training program became a requirement for eligibility for the American Board of Radiology physics examination. The This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

AAPM WGPDMP Report 373: The content, structure, and value of the Professional Doctorate in Medical Physics (DMP)

Burmeister

Coffey

Hazle

et al. 2022

“…This would alleviate some of the current barriers in incorporating this training into institutions where the faculty body does not feel comfortable leading such training or does not have the bandwidth, funding, resources, or support to develop institution-specific curricula for it. Although patient communication is not currently explicitly included as an item in the CAMPEP core graduate 33 or residency curriculum lists for accreditation 34 or on the AAPM guidelines for graduate 35 or clinical medical physics residency programs, 36 as our profession evolves it may become a necessary skill. Furthermore, professionalism and/or interpersonal and communication skills are explicitly listed in those reports, and although this training is geared specifically towards patient communication, the principles of effective communications presented in it are applicable to any interpersonal interaction.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Introductory patient communication training for medical physics graduate students: Pilot experience

Padilla

Meleski

Dominick

et al. 2021

Despite medical physics becoming a more patient-facing part of the radiation oncology team, medical physics graduate students have no training in patient communication. An introductory patient communication training for medical physics graduate students is presented here. This training exposes participants to foundational concepts and effective communication skills through a lecture and it allows them to apply these concepts through realistic simulated patient interactions. The training was conducted virtually, and eight students participated. The impact of the training was evaluated based on changes in both confidence and competence of the participants' patient communication skills. Participants were asked to fill out a survey to assess their confidence on communicating with patients before and after the training. They also underwent a simulated patient interaction pre-and postlecture. Their performance during these was evaluated by both the simulated patient actors and the participants themselves using a rubric. Each data set was paired and analyzed for significance using a Wilcoxon rank-sum test with an alpha of 0.05. Participants reported significantly higher confidence in their feeling of preparedness to interact with patients (mean = 2.38 vs. 3.88, p = 0.008), comfort interacting independently (mean = 2.00 vs. 4.00, p = 0.002), comfort showing patients they are actively listening (mean = 3.50 vs. 4.50, p = 0.005), and confidence handling challenging patient interactions (mean = 1.88 vs. 3.38, p = 0.01), after the training. Their encounter scores, as evaluated by the simulated patient actors, significantly increased (mean = 77% vs. 91%, p = 0.022). Self -evaluation scores increased, but not significantly (mean = 62% vs. 68%, p = 0.184). The difference between the simulated patient and self -evaluation scores for the postinstruction encounter was statistically significant (p = 0.0014). This patient communication training for medical physics graduate students is effective at increasing both the confidence and the competence of the participants in the subject. We propose that similar trainings be incorporated into medical physics graduate training programs prior to students entering into residency.

“…Although it should be acknowledged that pathways between nonphysics bachelors and medical physics still exist, these data provide an opportunity for comparison with an affiliated physics society such as the APS and reflection on the current state of medical physics racial and ethnic diversity in the United States measured by proxy through AAPM membership. 33 As so many medical physicists know through their own experiences, our niche field remains largely unknown to the general public. Even in the high school student cohorts who participated in our outreach home events, who self -selected toward careers in healthcare, majority (57.7%) were not aware of medical physics; furthermore, this statistic may even be inflated due to social desirability bias of knowledge in this captive audience and/or due to participants geographic proximity to our graduate program.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In part, AAPM created the Working Group on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Survey Creation and Demographic Data Collection Committee to address these problems. Although it should be acknowledged that pathways between nonphysics bachelors and medical physics still exist, these data provide an opportunity for comparison with an affiliated physics society such as the APS and reflection on the current state of medical physics racial and ethnic diversity in the United States measured by proxy through AAPM membership 33 …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A framework for developing community‐focused medical physics outreach programs

Santoso

Jupitz

Lin

2021

In STEM education and careers,underrepresented minorities (URMs) experience higher attrition than non-URM counterparts. Informal educational experiences, such as outreach, have been identified to increase URM awareness and enrollment in STEM. The objectives of this work were to (1) elucidate the current state of racial and ethnic diversity in medical physics and (2) provide a community-focused framework for building effective outreach programs geared toward K-12 URM students and their families. Methods: Self -reported racial and ethnic identity data from the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) members were obtained to identify the percentage of URM members. Outreach programming was developed for home or away events. Home events occurred at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Medical Physics; away events occurred at public community institutions that served URM and economically disadvantaged populations. Demonstrations, hands-on activities, and presentations covered radiation detection, radiotherapy, medical imaging, and medical physics career paths. High school students were asked about their awareness of medical physics prior to outreach events. Likert-scale surveys evaluated student level of agreement (1 = Strongly disagree to 5 = Strongly agree) that home events increased their career interests in medicine and physics and interest in pursuing STEM coursework. Results: Average percentage of AAPM URM members was 10.7% from 2014 to 2020. From 2016 to 2020, 42 outreach events occurred near or within the Madison metro area. Over 1900 individuals participated in outreach events, with 50 participants on average per event. The majority of home event participants indicated their interest in medical careers increased (65.4%) and were inspired to pursue more STEM courses (73.1%) after the program. Conclusions: Our medical physics outreach program demonstrates a means of increasing awareness and interest around medical physics, particularly for underrepresented individuals. This article addresses gaps in the literature for how to create and implement effective, community-focused medical physics outreach programs.