The Residency Program
Radiation oncology residency at Jefferson is a four-year training program (PGY 2-5). Residents must have completed one year of post-graduate training in medicine, surgery, or a transitional program.
Jefferson’s residency in radiation oncology trains residents broadly in cancer management and emphasizes interdisciplinary care. Faculty members provide instruction in all modes of radiation oncology: megavoltage photon- and electron-beam therapy, interstitial and intracavitary radioactive-source implantations, stereotactic radiosurgery and radiotherapy, intensity modulated radiation therapy and the diagnostic and therapeutic uses of radioactive isotopes.
Clinical Rotations
During site-specific clinical rotations, residents are assigned to a clinical faculty member on a one-to-one basis. Each resident is responsible for seeing new consults, as well as on-treatment and follow-up patients, with the attending. In addition, all residents participate in simulation and treatment planning.
The resident provides clinical coverage when the attending is away and works with the covering “doctor of the day”. Residents may be recruited to radiation oncology services other than their assigned one, or to special procedures, particularly brachytherapy cases, as coverage needs arise.
As a result of their patient-care responsibilities and collaboration with attending physicians, residents get extensive experience in:
- handling inpatient, outpatient, and emergency consults;
- taking and dictating histories, as well as completing physicals, initial testing, and evaluations, and requesting information from other hospitals and medical care providers;
- recommending treatment plans and discussing the plan at the Quality Assurance Conferences;
- scheduling the patient for treatment through the Chief Therapist;
- performing treatment simulations with new patients, working with the staff dosimetrists and using simulator films;
- assisting with initial treatment set-up;
- performing weekly examinations of patients in treatment and at the follow-up clinic;
- scheduling and following admissions;
- taking responsibility for in-house patients on the radiation oncology service, including brachytherapy patients;
- taking nighttime on-call duty which the resident may accept from home on the long-range beeper, if the resident is within 30 minutes travel time of the hospital;
- and, completing reports on medical procedures and discharge summaries.
Evaluations
Residents receive a written performance evaluation at the end of each two-month rotation. They are also asked to provide a written evaluation of the attending staff after clinical rotations.
The residency program director will meet with each resident twice per year to provide feedback and evaluation and to review residents procedure logs. Residents have the opportunity to become a chief resident in their fourth year and to oversee many of the above activities and other departmental areas.
Clinical Research
Jefferson encourages and supports research by all department staff, and has made research an integral aspect of radiation oncology training. Department members, who are all involved in clinical or basic research, serve as advisors or mentors in this area for residents, who complete at least one, original, clinical research project of publishable quality during their four-year training period. Submission of abstracts to major scientific meetings is encouraged. In addition, residents present their research findings in the Resident Seminar. They may also be asked to present the work at forums such as the Tumor Board and Multidisciplinary Conferences.
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