Course Description
Clinical Practicum III is the final section of the clinical component of the UWLAX Medical Dosimetry program. In this course students work with clinical preceptors to apply the principals and practices covered in the didactic portion of the program to produce radiation treatment plans.
Assessment
Assessment in Clinic III took the form of required competencies, and clinical instructor evaluations. This semester I completed seven competencies and received three evaluations. Students were also required to create a plan utilizing the esophagus "supa-firefly" planning technique and discuss the planning process. Additionally, students completed four Proknowsystems.com assignments for contouring and planning accuracy assessment and submitted a paper discussing the process.
Clinical assessments-click the links below to see some examples of my clinical progress.The clinical case log summary shows the types of treatment plans I worked on throughout the semester, the tasks I performed, and anonymous patient demographic information.
-Competency: Abdominal IMRT
Prostate IMRT
Prostate with nodes IMRT
Head and Neck IMRT
Thoracic IMRT
Lymphoma
Brain IMRT
-Instructor eval:eval 1, mid semester eval 2, end of semester eval 3
-Clinical case log summary: semester 3
Discussions-Peer group discussions gave students the opportunity share insight and methodology about planning assignments. Students were able to learn about the software and planning techniques used by other treatment sites and question each other about a given program or planning approach.Discussions and peer feedback were productive way to learn more from each planning assignment. Click here to see my discussion submissions.
ProKnow
Proknowsystems.com is an education application that enables students and dosimetrists to assess contouring and planning ability. Students were given free access to this site to assess their progress throughout clinic II. Students completed three contouring assessments for bowel, sigmoid, and rectum as well as a prostate planning challenge assessment. Click the links below to see my work.
Contouring assessments-glottic larynx, right submandibular gland
Plan challenge-craniospinal irradiation, head and neck TG-244 protocol
Self-Reflection
The new knowledge and skills I gained during this course were...
In this course I built upon the knowledge and skills I developed in previous semesters of my clinical rotation. I have increased my efficiency when planning complex 3D cases. I am confident treating IMRT cases and have gotten some exposure and practice in tomotherapy planning.
Skills I hope to learn more about as I enter the workforce include...
I hope to continue to perfect my ability to produce quality plans in a timely manner. I have had some exposure to brachytherapy and tomotherapy planning but I hope to learn more so that i may have a more complete knowledge of all planning modalities.
What I enjoyed most about this clinical rotation....
Hands on learning has been my favorite part of the clinical internship. I enjoy functioning as an independent member of the dosimetry team. I feel that I am becoming a reliable member of the dosimetry team, my coworkers know my strengths and see my ability to get things done.
What I struggled with the most throughout this clinical rotation and how I plan to work on it …
I have improved my IMRT planning ability greatly over the past semester. I feel I have the knowledge to troubleshoot difficult plans but I feel I have a lot of room to improve my level of proficiency. Complex plans such as head and neck cases are an area I would most like to improve upon.
Other reflective thoughts...
I am surprised by the amount of progress I've made over the past year. I have learned a lot about treatment planning but I know I still have much more to learn. I am excited to become a member of the dosimetry workforce and continue to grow as a dosimetrist and learn new things.
Clinical Practicum III is the final section of the clinical component of the UWLAX Medical Dosimetry program. In this course students work with clinical preceptors to apply the principals and practices covered in the didactic portion of the program to produce radiation treatment plans.
Assessment
Assessment in Clinic III took the form of required competencies, and clinical instructor evaluations. This semester I completed seven competencies and received three evaluations. Students were also required to create a plan utilizing the esophagus "supa-firefly" planning technique and discuss the planning process. Additionally, students completed four Proknowsystems.com assignments for contouring and planning accuracy assessment and submitted a paper discussing the process.
Clinical assessments-click the links below to see some examples of my clinical progress.The clinical case log summary shows the types of treatment plans I worked on throughout the semester, the tasks I performed, and anonymous patient demographic information.
-Competency: Abdominal IMRT
Prostate IMRT
Prostate with nodes IMRT
Head and Neck IMRT
Thoracic IMRT
Lymphoma
Brain IMRT
-Instructor eval:eval 1, mid semester eval 2, end of semester eval 3
-Clinical case log summary: semester 3
Discussions-Peer group discussions gave students the opportunity share insight and methodology about planning assignments. Students were able to learn about the software and planning techniques used by other treatment sites and question each other about a given program or planning approach.Discussions and peer feedback were productive way to learn more from each planning assignment. Click here to see my discussion submissions.
ProKnow
Proknowsystems.com is an education application that enables students and dosimetrists to assess contouring and planning ability. Students were given free access to this site to assess their progress throughout clinic II. Students completed three contouring assessments for bowel, sigmoid, and rectum as well as a prostate planning challenge assessment. Click the links below to see my work.
Contouring assessments-glottic larynx, right submandibular gland
Plan challenge-craniospinal irradiation, head and neck TG-244 protocol
Self-Reflection
The new knowledge and skills I gained during this course were...
In this course I built upon the knowledge and skills I developed in previous semesters of my clinical rotation. I have increased my efficiency when planning complex 3D cases. I am confident treating IMRT cases and have gotten some exposure and practice in tomotherapy planning.
Skills I hope to learn more about as I enter the workforce include...
I hope to continue to perfect my ability to produce quality plans in a timely manner. I have had some exposure to brachytherapy and tomotherapy planning but I hope to learn more so that i may have a more complete knowledge of all planning modalities.
What I enjoyed most about this clinical rotation....
Hands on learning has been my favorite part of the clinical internship. I enjoy functioning as an independent member of the dosimetry team. I feel that I am becoming a reliable member of the dosimetry team, my coworkers know my strengths and see my ability to get things done.
What I struggled with the most throughout this clinical rotation and how I plan to work on it …
I have improved my IMRT planning ability greatly over the past semester. I feel I have the knowledge to troubleshoot difficult plans but I feel I have a lot of room to improve my level of proficiency. Complex plans such as head and neck cases are an area I would most like to improve upon.
Other reflective thoughts...
I am surprised by the amount of progress I've made over the past year. I have learned a lot about treatment planning but I know I still have much more to learn. I am excited to become a member of the dosimetry workforce and continue to grow as a dosimetrist and learn new things.