(Sunday, 7/29/2018) 9:30 AM - 10:30 AM
Room: Karl Dean Ballroom A1
The training pathway for Medical Physicists in North America has undergone significant changes in the last decade. We have observed the introduction of new pedagogical approaches to medical physics education, as well as the development of formal and standardized didactic and clinical training. The perceived impact of these changes has been an area of intense interest and discussion within our community. This symposium, presented on behalf of the Education Council, will highlight several topical areas of medical physics education and training, how they may have been influenced by the aforementioned changes, and potential avenues to consider for the future of medical physics education.
Victor Montemayor
An overview of the 2018 AAPM teaching workshop
The 2018 AAPM Workshop on Improving the Teaching and Mentoring of Medical Physics will take place in Nashville immediately prior to the start of the annual AAPM meeting. The workshop will feature presentations, breakout sessions, and brainstorming sessions in which the participants will work on developing practice-based learning challenges for students in their classes or residencies. In addition to two invited speakers from Vanderbilt, the workshop will also feature several prominent speakers from the AAPM. The purpose of this talk is to overview the highlights of the workshop, and to pass along the main messages gleaned from the speakers and from the brainstorming sessions.
William Sensakovic
Education as a tool for directing our future
Medical physicists are well versed in the science of imaging and therapy, however, training
rarely discusses some of the outside forces that shape our profession. The purpose of this
talk is to discuss how education related to soft-skills in areas such as policy development,
institutional politics, and professional motivation can be introduced to help shape the future
of our profession.
Joann Prisciandaro
Presentation Title: Provocative questions in medical physics
As medical physics education and training is standardized, the medical physics community has questioned whether our graduates are receiving the appropriate didactics, practical training, and experiences to become leaders in basic research, academia, and industry. The purpose of this talk is to discuss the current recommendations and guidelines for medical physics training, as well as proposed changes to enhance the curriculum to ensure our students remain competitive and can play an active role in addressing provocative questions in medical physics.
Michael McNitt-Gray
Future training of diagnostic medical physicists
Training diagnostic medical physicists for the future means that not only will they be able to test machines for accreditation or The Joint Commission or state compliance, but they also will need to be trained to lead the efforts in improving and optimizing diagnostic imaging that is constantly incorporating new technologies. Training their critical thinking and communication skills will be vital in providing the leadership needed to ensure the best use of these increasingly sophisticated devices such as developing or evaluating protocols or understanding tradeoffs in different modes of operation. In this way, diagnostic physicists will continue to provide leadership in maximizing effectiveness and ensuring the safest possible operation of diagnostic imaging equipment in the clinical environment.
After the presentations the speakers will be open to questions and discussion with the audience members.
Learning Objectives:
1. Understand ways in which teachers and mentors of Medical Physics are changing the ways in which they teach Medical Physics in order to improve the quality of Medical Physics education and training, as presented at the 2018 Workshop on Teaching and Mentoring.
2. Identify opportunities to use education to advocate for the Medical Physics Profession.
3. Understand ways in which the graduate education experience can be enhanced to ensure our students become essential team members in healthcare research and delivery and can play an active role in addressing provocative questions in medical physics.
4. Understand ways in which the graduate education experience can prepare diagnostic imaging physicists by developing not just technical skills, but critical thinking and communication skills so that they may provide critically needed expertise in maximizing the clinical effectiveness and ensuring the safest possible operation of diagnostic imaging equipment in the clinical environment.
Funding Support, Disclosures, and Conflict of Interest: Nothing to disclose
Handouts
Keywords
Not Applicable / None Entered.
Taxonomy
Not Applicable / None Entered.
Contact Email
