The Solo Practice of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology

Halvorsen, Per H.; Dawson, Julie F.; Fraser, Martin W.; Thomadsen, Bruce R.

doi:10.37206/80

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…For example, the small practices face challenges of effective peer-review due to costs and solitary nature of their environment. 31 The medium size clinic was defined as having 3-10 clinical physicists, with 3-6 radiotherapy linear accelerators (linacs), at least one specialized program of MRIguided RT (MRIgRT) or a clinical proton therapy, or stereotactic radiosurgery and a clinical medical physics residency program. The large clinic includes more than ten physicists, more than 6 linacs, special treatment programs, MR simulator, MRIgRT and proton therapy, and both medical physics graduate and residency education programs.…”

Section: A | Practice Stratificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mitigating disruptions, and scalability of radiation oncology physics work during the COVID‐19 pandemic

Darafsheh

Lavvafi

Taleei

et al. 2020

J Applied Clin Med Phys

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Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to disorder in work and livelihood of a majority of the modern world. In this work, we review its major impacts on procedures and workflow of clinical physics tasks, and suggest alternate pathways to avoid major disruption or discontinuity of physics tasks in the context of small, medium, and large radiation oncology clinics. We also evaluate scalability of medical physics under the stress of "social distancing".Methods: Three models of facilities characterized by the number of clinical physicists, daily patient throughput, and equipment were identified for this purpose. For identical objectives of continuity of clinical operations, with constraints such as social distancing and unavailability of staff due to system strain, however with the possibility of remote operations, the performance of these models was investigated.General clinical tasks requiring on-site personnel presence or otherwise were evaluated to determine the scalability of the three models at this point in the course of disease spread within their surroundings. Results:The clinical physics tasks within three models could be divided into two categories. The former, which requires individual presence, include safety-sensitive radiation delivery, high dose per fraction treatments, brachytherapy procedures, fulfilling state and nuclear regulatory commission's requirements, etc. The latter, which can be handled through remote means, include dose planning, physics plan review and supervision of quality assurance, general troubleshooting, etc. Conclusion:At the current level of disease in the United States, all three models have sustained major system stress in continuing reduced operation. However, the small clinic model may not perform if either the current level of infections is maintained for long or staff becomes unavailable due to health issues. With abundance, and diversity of innovative resources, medium and large clinic models can sustain further for physics-related radiotherapy services.

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Section: A | Practice Stratificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mitigating disruptions, and scalability of radiation oncology physics work during the COVID‐19 pandemic

Darafsheh

Lavvafi

Taleei

et al. 2020

J Applied Clin Med Phys

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“…Bennett et al [45] define six core competencies for continuing medical education educators for physicians that are equally applicable to CPD teachers for medical physicists. Medical physicists also have a responsibility to provide in-service training for clinical staff to reduce the risk of human error as well as keeping their own CPD up-to-date [46].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Continuing professional development systems for medical physicists: A global survey and analysis

Round

2013

Physica Medica

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Continuing professional development (CPD) and continuing professional education (CPE) are seen as being necessary for medical physicists to ensure that they are up-to-date with current clinical practice. CPD is more than just continuing professional education, but can include research publication, working group contribution, thesis examination and many other activities. A systematic way of assessing and recording such activities that a medical physicist undertakes is used in a number of countries. This can be used for certification and licensing renewal purposes. Such systems are used in 27 countries, but they should be implemented in all countries where clinical medical physicists are employed. A survey of the CPD systems that are currently operated around the world is presented. In general they are quite similar although there are a few countries that have CPD systems that differ significantly from the others in many respects. Generally they ensure that medical physicists are kept up-to-date, although there are some that clearly will fail to achieve that. An analysis of what is required to construct a useful medical physics CPD system is made. Finally, the need for medical physicist professional organizations to cooperate and share in the production and distribution of CPD and CPE materials is emphasized.

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“…Perhaps most uncomfortable is the risk that a solo physicist may fall into a “protective bubble.” I worked as a solo physicist many years ago, and the experience was a strong motivation for AAPM Report 80 7 which, in turn, led to the TG‐103 report recommending peer review for physicists in solo practice 8 . A small hospital or clinic employing a solo physicist has few points of reference for evaluating their clinical physics needs, and a friendly, helpful, and ever‐present solo physicist may develop a “walk on water” aura among the clinical and administrative colleagues.…”

Section: Opening Statementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vendor‐provided clinical physics services are a disservice to patients and the medical physics profession

Wang

Halvorsen

Rong

2021

J Applied Clin Med Phys

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The Solo Practice of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology

Cited by 5 publications

References 51 publications

Mitigating disruptions, and scalability of radiation oncology physics work during the COVID‐19 pandemic

Mitigating disruptions, and scalability of radiation oncology physics work during the COVID‐19 pandemic

Continuing professional development systems for medical physicists: A global survey and analysis

Vendor‐provided clinical physics services are a disservice to patients and the medical physics profession

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