Radiation Oncology Residency

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 physician. Residents may be recruited to radiation oncology services other than their assigned one, or to special procedures, particularly brachytherapy cases, as coverage needs arise.

Resident training includes extensive clinical experience in:

• Handling inpatient, outpatient, and emergency consultations.
• Evaluating new patients with history, physical examination, and appropriate diagnostic studies.
• Communication with other medical care providers.
• Recommending treatment options.
• Performing treatment simulations with new patients.
• Collaborating with staff dosimetrists and physicists.
• Presenting treatment plans at Quality Assurance conferences.
• Presenting patients at Tumor Board conferences.
• Taking responsibility for and following in-house patients.
• Documentation and dictation of evaluations, follow-ups, and procedures.

Residents rotate call duties on a weekly basis. First-year residents take approximately ten weeks of call, with decreasing weeks each subsequent year. The on-call resident is responsible for taking calls in the evenings from 4:30 PM through 8:00 AM, as well as the entire weekend. Calls may be taken from home as long as the resident is within 30 minutes travel time from the hospital.

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 resident's 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.