[Intl_DxMedPhys] Diagnostic Resident Physics Curriculum Ideas

[Mary Ellen Jafari]

We do a one hour lecture every two weeks and cover the curriculum over two years.  I agree with you that this is a very important part of their training. I am not thrilled about having to spread the curriculum out over 2 years but one has to work with the time allotted.

Our radiology residents seem to really enjoy the physics lectures (seriously, yes). They are very engaged, ask great questions, and are scoring high in the physics sections of their exams.  Their feedback is that the physics lectures are “high yield.”  The test scores and resident feedback are why we get good support from our Radiology Residency program for physics lectures.

Mary Ellen

Mary Ellen Jafari, MS, DABR (D,N), MRSE, MRSO, FACR, FAAPM, CIIP
Chief Physicist and Regional Radiation Safety Officer

Kaiser Permanente
Southern California Permanente Medical Group
Medical Imaging Technology and Informatics
199 S. Los Robles Ave., Pasadena CA 91101
626-430-1231 (office mobile)
Maryellen.Jafari at kp.org

From: Intl_dxmedphys_wd_osu_list <intl_dxmedphys_wd_osu_list-bounces+maryellen.jafari=kp.org at lists.osu.edu> On Behalf Of Steven Shea via Intl_dxmedphys_wd_osu_list
Sent: Wednesday, April 23, 2025 11:52 AM
To: intl_dxmedphys_wd_osu_list at lists.osu.edu
Subject: [Intl_DxMedPhys] Diagnostic Resident Physics Curriculum Ideas


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Dear list, I am reaching out to ask for examples/suggestions for how you/your program is teaching diagnostic physics to Radiology residents. We are about to undergo a major change at our institution for physics teaching. Previously,  we have
Dear list,

I am reaching out to ask for examples/suggestions for how you/your program is teaching diagnostic physics to Radiology residents. We are about to undergo a major change at our institution for physics teaching. Previously,  we have had 1.5 hour physics lectures roughly once per week and we covered the entire AAPM curriculum<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.aapm.org/education/ERG/DIARAD/__;!!KGKeukY!z8uXyekquwm4BAonS3FkIjfzHGiWDON3FSsrNiy9Ymd8Db_fZL5FDilUrF-q6DcoE4WyAFGY7j_rThzp1-I1pd4WbhyBQGUS_7DinpmnewCHbP0t$> each year. The idea was to expose the residents multiple times to physics conferences (as concepts were abstract and not as emphasized in their clinical work) and also to ensure all residents saw the lectures at least twice before their third year board exams. (Residents would sometimes miss lectures due to call schedule or rotations away from campus.) The new proposal from our program director would significantly reduce the physics lectures (maybe once per month in the normal conference schedule) and we are looking into other options/alternatives. Part of the justification was that several other local programs were not devoting this amount of time to physics lectures. While we are still in discussions on what we will do, I am sure we will need to cut down our total amount of lectures per year. So, I was hoping some of you would share your current practices/curriculum for Diagnostic Radiology residents. I have some specific questions that would be helpful for our team:
- Do you run the curriculum over multiple years? If so, how do you deal with residents missing class periods due to call?
- Do you teach all topics to all residents? Or do you split to specific groups? Eg: x-ray & fluoro to first years, CT to second years, MRI & NucMed to third years ...
- Do you bunch or compress the lectures (i.e. a week-long boot camp or similar) or do you spread the lectures throughout the year?
- Are the physics lectures/curriculum separate from the traditional clinical lectures across body, MSK, neuro, etc...? Or do you weave within?
- Do you do traditional lectures or have you moved to different modes of interaction? (We have done hands-on labs but typically can only run these once or twice per year for a particular modality, often have to limit the number of students, and have to do some on the weekends.)

I would appreciate any other thoughts you might have. We are trying to avoid only doing board prep as we all think (a) physics is an important but often overlooked part of learning for the Radiology residents and (b) many residents only receive dedicated physics education during their residency.

Best, Steve

Steven Shea, PhD
Associate Professor, MR Scientist
Department of Radiology & Medical Imaging. Loyola Medicine
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