Didactic Experience
The program requires coursework in clinical oncology and anatomy, quality and safety management, radiation physics, and radiation biology. All courses are taught by the Department of Radiation Oncology faculty and are designed specifically for the dosimetry curriculum. Classroom lecture is the mode of instruction for all didactic courses except Radiation Oncology Physics I and II, which uses a lecture and recitation model.
Clinical Experience
The dosimetry student’s experience is intensively clinical and is acquired in Medical Dosimetry Practicum I, II, and III (6 credit hours each, offered in fall, spring, and summer terms respectively). These require approximately 25 hours per week of in-clinic experience, during which students work to achieve specific clinical competencies, which include the minimal clinical competencies described in the 2019 AAMD guidelines for external beam therapies of head and neck, thorax, abdomen, pelvis, extremities, and brachytherapy, as well as additional competencies in total body irradiation, total skin irradiation, proton treatment planning, and stereotactic radiosurgery treatment planning.
At the beginning of each of Medical Dosimetry Practicum I, II, and III, students are informed of the competencies they are expected to develop during that term. Working with clinical preceptors, who are assigned per student and per competency topic, students develop and follow a pathway to competency, which, at the instructor’s discretion may include informal or professional conference, lecture, reading, report writing, journaling, and written examination, and shall include planning of practice cases and live cases as they are available. No less frequently than once per two weeks, the student’s progress toward each competency is reviewed by the corresponding preceptor in conference with the student, and the results are reported to the program’s clinical coordinator and director. For each competency topic, the student participates in a competency assessment exercise, which at minimum requires unguided performance of the clinical task and which may also require oral or written examination or reporting. The precise requirements of each assessment are communicated by the preceptor at the beginning of the term. It is expected that all assessments be passed during the term in which they are originally scheduled.
Research Experience
The research component of the Master of Science curriculum is designated Seminar in Medical Dosimetry I, II, and III. This year-long experience provides a foundation in contemporary research issues and techniques in medical radiation dosimetry and related medical physics topics via lectures in research methodology, faculty-guided literature review, and the students’ formulation and completion under faculty supervision of an original research project and its defense. A satisfactory oral presentation of the project and examination by a committee of instructors are required.
Accessibility
All courses, both didactic and practical, are held in person, with the didactic courses having regular meeting times approximately equivalent to one hour per week per credit hour, and with lecture, reading, and discussion the primary modes of instruction. The practical courses are likewise held in person and require students to appear at their assigned clinics daily. The primary modes of instruction in practical courses are observation, practice, lecture, reading, and discussion, all requiring students’ physical presence in their assigned clinics. Some lectures may be delivered via the internet to accommodate students’ or instructors’ schedules at diverse sites, but there is no distance learning option, and neither are there part-time, weekend or accelerated learning options.