Aligning Requirements of Training and Assessment in Radiation Treatment Planning in the Era of Competency-Based Medical Education

Successful implementation of online educational lectures of the German Society for Radiation Oncology (DEGRO)

“…In addition, 15% of the responses of participants showed an interest in the further expansion of case studies and close practical relevance (Fig. 3 b) and a large proportion wished for further webinars on “target volume/contouring/radiation planning.” These results indicate the need for practice-oriented case-based online courses on target volume/contouring/radiation planning, which have previously been demonstrated to be effective [ 24 , 26 ]. Another finding is that the categories “teaching the basics and interactive teaching” and “case studies and close practical relevance” were seen as both strengths and areas for improvement by the participants.…”

“…First of all, hands-on seminars are particularly important to ensure the smooth transition of theory into practice in radiation oncology [ 23 ]. Several approaches to improve practice-based teaching have already been successfully implemented in Canada, with innovative teaching methods, such as case libraries, computer-assisted learning, and quality assessments, revealing a very high degree of effectiveness [ 24 ]. Preliminary work carried out in Germany and other countries has identified and later concluded that the synergistic collaboration of multiple disciplines in the case-based teaching of radiation oncology is very important for the successful education of future residents [ 25 – 27 ].…”

Challenges in the transition to independent radiation oncology practice and targeted interventions for improvement

“…The authors also found that nearly all (92 %) residents surveyed were interested in free web-based treatment planning resources; thus, the authors proposed a web-based curriculum with site-specific planning modules applicable to multiple treatment planning systems. Similarly, a focus group within the department of oncology at Queen’s University in Ontario [21] discussed how to align radiation treatment planning education with the competency-based medical education approach, and suggested opportunities for change, including developing a library of cases, offering structured feedback of plan evaluation, and providing audiovisual resources.…”

Interprofessional Image Verification Workshop for Physician and Physics Residents: A Multi-Institutional Experience

“…Time constraints and competing priorities have been identified as barriers to resident training in other studies. 11 Despite radiation oncology being an interprofessional specialty, many educational initiatives focus only on medical residents. 5 In this workshop, we encouraged medical and physics residents to work together on the image alignment cases.…”