2024
12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
Tuesday Tue
Location
Medical Physics Seminar - Sarah Quirk
A Multinational Competency-Based Simulation Education Program to Assess Residents in the Measurement and Clinical Implications of Absolute Dosimetry
Time:
12:00pm – 1:00pm Seminar & Discussion
Location:
Zoom Webinar
Webinar Registration:
https://stanford.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_8E-uxkoaTGu3zuTmZAbGkg
Check your email for the Zoom webinar link after you have registered
Dr Sarah Quirk, PhD, Faculty Physicist and Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School
Dr. Quirk is a Faculty Physicist at the Brigham & Women’s Hospital and Dana Faber Cancer Institute and an Assistant Professor at the Harvard Medical School. Dr. Quirk is the Director of Process Improvement in the Department of Radiation Oncology, with a scope spanning department-wide initiatives. Her clinical and academic work focuses on breast cancer, real-world data, informatics infrastructure, and change management science. Dr. Quirk has been instrumental in developing and refining radiotherapy options for women with early-stage breast cancer, namely accelerated partial breast irradiation. Additionally, Dr. Quirk is leading initiatives to implement automated clinical radiotherapy workflows and to comprehensively integrate informatics and decision-support applications in radiotherapy. She has combined these clinical focuses to build an exciting and productive research portfolio.
Abstract
In 2020, a pan-Canadian national education working group was created with members including residency program directors, medical physicists, graduate students, and residents. The working group designed an education program on the clinical implications and physical principles of absolute dosimetry on a linear accelerator. Participants were eligible if enrolled in a CAMPEP-accredited residency program and had completed at least four months in their program. In 2022, the program was extended to residency programs in the United States. For each resident participant, the study design included (i) pre-study self-rated assessment of baseline competence, (ii) simulation of absolute dosimetry measurement under observation of a medical physicist, (iii) a post-simulation guided discussion to assess foundational competence, (iv) an immediate, directed feedback session, and (v) post-study self-rated assessment of competence. The pre- and post-study self-rated assessments were validated questionnaires in 10 domains of competence completed by the resident on a 5-point Likert scale and were compared with a paired student’s t-test with alpha of 0.05 indicating significance. The simulation was timed and evaluated by a medical physicist using established competency-based education tools. The guided discussion was directed by the observing medical physicist to gauge the participant’s understanding of the clinical implications of absolute dosimetry on patient outcomes and patient safety, practical clinical management of dosimetry adjustments, physical principles of the measurement, and alternative methods of verifying output. The study aims to evaluate a competency-based simulation enhanced education program for medical physics learners in the clinical implications and measurement of absolute dosimetry.