Interprofessional Image Verification Workshop for Physician and Physics Residents: A Multi-Institutional Experience

Area of Science:

• Radiation Oncology
• Medical Physics
• Medical Education

Background:

• Pretreatment setup imaging verification is critical for safe radiation therapy delivery.
• Increasing treatment complexity necessitates strong physicist-physician collaboration.
• Radiation oncology and medical physics residency programs often lack structured interprofessional education (IPE) for image verification.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of an interprofessional image verification workshop on resident confidence and training.
• To assess the effectiveness of a multi-institutional workshop in improving skills for image verification.

Main Methods:

• A workshop was conducted for radiation oncology (RO) and medical physics (MP) residents, including lectures and hands-on image registration practice.
• Participants completed pre- and post-workshop surveys assessing comfort levels in ordering imaging and assessing setup quality.
• Statistical analysis included paired t-tests to determine significance and Spearman correlation to assess relationships with postgraduate year (PGY).

Main Results:

• A total of 71 residents from 7 institutions participated; 50 completed surveys.
• Significant increases in comfort were observed for both ordering imaging (mean increase 1.6, P < .001) and assessing setup quality (mean increase 1.7, P < .001).
• Survey responses revealed image verification training is largely unstructured, with time constraints identified as a major barrier.

Conclusions:

• Formal image verification training enhances resident comfort with setup imaging review.
• IPE workshops provide valuable opportunities for interprofessional collaboration in radiation oncology residency.
• Structured training is needed to improve image verification practices and resident preparedness.