In the past few years, I’ve developed closer collaborations with the dosimetry community, giving annual talks at the national AAMD meeting and working with Radiation Oncology Resources, Inc. to develop much-needed Quality Systems and training programs for radiation therapy. In the process, I have met more and more dosimetrists and dosimetry students, and am always impressed by their hunger to learn, improve, and share techniques and best practices. Dosimetrists are a highly collaborative population of colleagues as opposed to a competitive population of rivals. This is healthy.
As part of my commitment and appreciation for the dosimetry community, I proudly announce that I will be working with Dr. Scott Collins and his Dosimetry Master program at Southern Illinois University (Carbondale). I will be giving guest lectures, working with ROR to run plan quality projects (i.e. Plan Challenges devoted to the students), and most importantly I will be arming the students with “Quality Reports [EMR]” licenses throughout their education.
We just finished a pilot project with the outgoing class of 2013, and in just a few weeks we were already seeing how the software can help on so many fronts – from interactive education on core principles of radiation therapy, to clinical protocols and continual improvement initiatives. We now look forward to the 2014 class, and beyond.
– Ben Nelms