Course Description
Students continued to improve their treatment planning and dosimetric skills, concentrating on advanced planning methods and quality assurance techniques.
Assessments & Activities
Students were assessed and graded on their performance and participation in clinical labs, competencies, service learning project, clinical evaluations, contouring, and e-portfolio contributions.
Planning Assignments
Students participated in a CSI and a head and neck planning challenges through ProKnow. I created both plans using the Tomotherapy treatment planning system. The plans were scored on things such as conformality, dose to specified structures, and dose to treatment volumes. Please follow the links below to see the scores I achieved on my plans. CSI Head & Neck Plan Comparison Students were required to select a patient previously or currently being treated for esophageal cancer and create a plan using the SupraFirefly technique developed by Dr. Matthew Palmer. Students then compared the plan created using the standard technique at their internship site to that created using the SupraFirefly technique. Please follow the link below to view my plan comparison discussion. SupraFirefly Plan Comparison Competencies Students are required to complete a total of 17 competencies throughout the program. This semester, completion of 7 competencies was mandatory. Please follow the links below to view this semester's completed competencies. Para-aortic Irradiation Conformal Lung with Boost Abdominal IMRT Brain IMRT with MR Fusion Prostate with Nodes IMRT Head & Neck IMRT Intracavitary Brachytherapy |
Contouring
Using the ProKnow program, we were scored on the accuracy of our contour of the right submandibular gland and glottic larynx. Please follow the link below to view my scores and certificates for my contours. Right Submandibular Gland Glottic Larynx Service Learning Project Students must fulfill the service learning requirement by volunteering their time in all 3 categories, which include community, professional, and employer before the end of the program. This semester, I completed a professional service learning project. Please follow the link below to view my service learning project. Professional Service Learning Project Clinical Evaluations The clinical preceptor at the internship site completed an evaluation of the student's performance 3 times, throughout this course. Please follow the link below to view my clinical evaluations. Clinical Practicum III Evaluations Case Logs Throughout this course, students recorded the different activities they observed, assisted with, or performed, allowing reflection on areas of experience and areas the student needs be exposed to more. Please follow the link below to view the summary of my case logs competed this semester. Clinical Practicum III Case Logs |
Self Reflection
At the completion of every course students are asked to reflect on a series of questions that focused on their knowledge gained, skills, areas of opportunity, and overall thoughts about the course.
The new knowledge and skills I gained during this clinical semester were....
I continued to build on a lot of the skills and knowledge I gained in the previous 2 semesters, but this semester I was able to complete a brachytherapy rotation and gain some experience planning brachy cases. At my internship site, the physicists are the ones that complete all of the brachytherapy planning, so this was a great opportunity to learn different techniques from physicists.
Skills I hope to learn more about as I enter the workforce include....
Although I was able to do a short rotation in brachytherapy, I would like to have a chance to gain more exposure to brachytherapy and to strengthen my brachy planning skills. I would also like a chance to plan on different treatment planning systems as there are many different ones being used within the field of radiation oncology and I'd like to have at least a basic understanding of how to plan on as many as possible.
What I enjoyed most about this clinical rotation....
I liked taking on challenging cases. I felt that I learned the most when I had to use problem solving and get creative to achieve desired physician constraints for difficult plans. I also enjoyed the fact that I felt more confident and efficient in planning VMAT cases.
What I struggled with the most throughout this clinical rotation and how I plan to work on it....
Head and neck cases were some of the more difficult plans that I have encountered and would take me the longest to complete. As such, I took on as many head and neck cases as I could to get more experience with creating plans with many surrounding structures and multiple overlapping PTVs.
Other reflective thoughts...
I really felt like everything came together in this semester. I felt comfortable planning any case that was assigned to me. I feel extremely fortunate to have been able to complete my clinical internship at UW Hospital and getting to work with such knowledgeable dosimetrists, therapists, physicists, and physicians. I feel confident in my skills and abilities and am very excited to see where my career as a medical dosimetrist takes me.
The new knowledge and skills I gained during this clinical semester were....
I continued to build on a lot of the skills and knowledge I gained in the previous 2 semesters, but this semester I was able to complete a brachytherapy rotation and gain some experience planning brachy cases. At my internship site, the physicists are the ones that complete all of the brachytherapy planning, so this was a great opportunity to learn different techniques from physicists.
Skills I hope to learn more about as I enter the workforce include....
Although I was able to do a short rotation in brachytherapy, I would like to have a chance to gain more exposure to brachytherapy and to strengthen my brachy planning skills. I would also like a chance to plan on different treatment planning systems as there are many different ones being used within the field of radiation oncology and I'd like to have at least a basic understanding of how to plan on as many as possible.
What I enjoyed most about this clinical rotation....
I liked taking on challenging cases. I felt that I learned the most when I had to use problem solving and get creative to achieve desired physician constraints for difficult plans. I also enjoyed the fact that I felt more confident and efficient in planning VMAT cases.
What I struggled with the most throughout this clinical rotation and how I plan to work on it....
Head and neck cases were some of the more difficult plans that I have encountered and would take me the longest to complete. As such, I took on as many head and neck cases as I could to get more experience with creating plans with many surrounding structures and multiple overlapping PTVs.
Other reflective thoughts...
I really felt like everything came together in this semester. I felt comfortable planning any case that was assigned to me. I feel extremely fortunate to have been able to complete my clinical internship at UW Hospital and getting to work with such knowledgeable dosimetrists, therapists, physicists, and physicians. I feel confident in my skills and abilities and am very excited to see where my career as a medical dosimetrist takes me.