Repurposing a machine QA platform for medical physics residency management

Medical physics residency programs require reliable systems for organizing rotation files, documenting educational activities, recording competency sign-offs, and monitoring resident progression. Current residency standards from the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Physics Educational Programs (CAMPEP) require clearly defined training schedules, rotation objectives, resident progress evaluation, and regular documentation of trainee development. Many programs continue to rely on static documents, spreadsheets, or multiple disconnected platforms, which may create version-control problems, increase administrative burden, and reduce transparency. Prior reports have described dedicated educational-management software (Typhon Group and MedHub) for this purpose, but these require separate licensing and onboarding. RadMachine (Radformation, Inc., New York, NY) is widely used in radiation oncology departments for machine quality assurance (QA) management; repurposing such an existing QA platform for residency management has not been previously described.

To describe the repurposing of RadMachine as a platform for medical physics residency rotation organization, activity tracking, competency sign-offs, and compliance with residency documentation needs.

A residency management framework was developed within the RadMachine platform. Each resident was configured as a virtual device. Test lists were created and assigned to each resident to represent clinical rotations, an operation sign-off list, a proficiency checklist, and a comprehensive examination. Individual tests represented, but were not limited to, learning objectives, practical tasks, reading topics, or sign-off requirements. Completion status was recorded in various ways, including binary completion states, supervisor sign-offs, detailed comments, or report upload. The prior Microsoft Word-based workflows were qualitatively compared with the proposed RadMachine-based framework.

The RadMachine-based framework transformed static training documents into dynamic, trackable test lists. Compared with the prior workflow, the new framework improved version control, reduced administrative effort, simplified updates, allowed transparency, and ensured access to the most current curriculum. Residents could view completed and pending requirements in real time, while faculty could rapidly review trainee progress and outstanding competencies.

Implementing the machine QA software RadMachine for residency education provides a practical, scalable, and low-overhead solution for rotation management and competency tracking. Because it reuses cloud-based QA software already licensed and deployed in the department for routine clinical QA-that is, existing departmental infrastructure-the approach requires no additional procurement, licensing, or information-technology onboarding. This approach is particularly useful for residency programs seeking efficient alternatives to document-based systems and offers strong potential for future expansion.