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2023-05-02_11-00-21_135hrv5_cg.html
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<title>[Training Tuesday] - Weekly thread for questions about grad school, residency, and general career topics 05/02/2023</title>
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<h1>[Training Tuesday] - Weekly thread for questions about grad school, residency, and general career topics 05/02/2023</h1>
<p>This is the place to ask questions about graduate school, training programs, or general basic career topics. If you are just learning about the field and want to know if it is something you should explore, this thread is probably the correct place for those first few questions on your mind.</p>
<h2>Examples:</h2>
<ul>
<li>"I majored in Surf Science and Technology in undergrad, is Medical Physics right for me?"</li>
<li>"I can't decide between Biomedical Engineering and Medical Physics..."</li>
<li>"Do Medical Physicists get free CT scans for life?"</li>
<li>"Masters vs. PhD"</li>
<li>"How do I prepare for Residency interviews?"</li>
</ul>
<h2>Comments:</h2>
<ol>
<li>
<p><strong>Comment 1:</strong> What are Residency Programs that they focus on Brachytherapy to their students?</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Comment 2:</strong> Can I pursue the course online I mean medical physics courses?</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Comment 3:</strong> Nuc Med Tech to Med Physicist</p>
<p>Just as the title says. I’m a nuc med tech looking to become a medical physicist. Upon researching schools, the problem is the lack of physics degree. I have my degree in nuclear med and one in psychology.</p>
<p>Looking for insight or schooling options to transition.</p>
<ol>
<li>
<p><strong>Response 1:</strong> I would contact some of the CAMPEP accredited medical physics graduate programs that you might want to go to the and talk to them about their prerequisites. With your background, one of them might be willing to admit you and let you make up some courses you're missing</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Response 2:</strong> Thank you for your response. I have been using the CAMPEP website to look into programs. Looks like I’m on the right track and I’ll be sending out emails to prospective schools.</p>
</li>
</ol>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Comment 4:</strong> I’m in my mid-20s and considering a career change. I’m wondering whether medical physics might be a good fit for me. I have a master’s in mathematics, but no physics background beyond 100-level courses. I really enjoy numerical methods, both from a theory perspective and a programming perspective. I also love the rigor of mathematics, and this lack of rigor is actually what turned me off of my introductory physics courses. I recently stumbled across r/radiology and was just blown away by the images, and I think it would be really cool to work in this area. I especially like the idea of doing something more applied than just pure mathematics.</p>
<p>I know that to become a medical physicist I’d have to go back and do a whole bunch of physics courses before really getting started on a PhD, which may take a while. Given what I’ve said about my interests, do you think that this is a reasonable goal? Would you recommend anything else? Additionally, do you think that someone with my background would have a hard time with the physics?</p>
<ol>
<li>
<p><strong>Response 1:</strong> I think this could be a good fit for you if you are interested in doing academic medical physics research, i.e. getting a Ph.D, becoming a tenure track professor, advising grad students etc. or becoming a research scientist in some capacity. There is a lot of overlap in these fields so you could probably get a Ph.D. in something like biomedical engineering too. As long as you find a lab and advisor that align with your research interests, it doesn't really matter what the department name on the Ph.D. certificate is if you're going down this path. I'm guessing there's a reason you didn't go for a Ph.D. in math though so if academia is not for you and you were wondering about clinical medical physics, then no, I don't think medical physics would be a good fit for you. Day-to-day clinical medical physics is not more rigorous than pure physics, quite the opposite actually. It requires having some niche knowledge and things like attention to detail and being able to critically think on the fly. As for your other question, you wouldn't have to do a *whole bunch* of physics courses prior to starting a Ph.D. in medical physics. The typical requirement is essentially 3 upper level physics courses or equivalent but you can check the website or reach out the advisor for any department you're interested for their exact requirements. Some will allow you to take those courses while you're in the program.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Response 2:</strong> Thank you for your thoughtful reply! I didn’t continue with the PhD mainly because I wasn’t in love with the field, and I had a hard time finding other options due to covid. I *love* the academic lifestyle, but I fear it’s a bit risky, especially for someone entering a few years late. Being able to work in industry or in a clinical setting appeals to me because there are (relatively) more jobs.</p>
<p>As for the rigor, I might actually take that back. I don’t mind dropping some rigor, and I recognize that it’s in some sense necessary for doing applied work, right? I mean, it seems fairly rare that applied work in general is hyper focused on rigor, no? (I don’t mean this in a disparaging way. I just mean that it’s not worth hyper-focusing on the details most of the time, when there is actual experimental work to be done.)</p>
<p>Would you say that the challenging parts of the job are mainly conceptual, like learning some new physics concept, or technical, like figuring out the best way to run some piece of code or calibrate a machine? I get the sense that it’s the latter, which actually does appeal to me quite a bit.</p>
<ol>
<li>[deleted]</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Response 3:</strong> Thanks for the input! It’s funny, the older I get, the easier I find courses to be. I really agree that there is something to the idea of maturity making learning easier.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Response 4:</strong> Since you mentioned you were interested in imaging, I'll let my diagnostic colleagues comment on what's the most challenging part of their job since that'll probably be a better guide for you. I will say for me *personally* and at the stage that I'm at in my career (a newbie) I think the most challenging parts of the job in therapy are the problem solving and decision making. It's on you to figure out if the QA is outside of tolerance because of something real or you made an error somewhere. And if it is real, what is the cause and how are you going to fix it? For those items that don't have strict tolerances, at what point is it worth chasing down or letting it slide because it's good enough and not worth the rabbit hole? This is just an example, but I think in general having to solve problems that can be challenging and have a time limit (better be ready to treat by morning) and having to be the one to make decisions that impact patients and colleagues are the toughest parts of the job, although they get easier with knowledge (physics and technical) and experience.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Response 5:</strong> Agreed! In a clinical environment, it is up to you as the physicist to analyze any situation, make a quick decision/rule-of-thumb calc/recommendation to the physician, and move forward. QA is one thing, but when the patient is on the couch about to be treated and something weird comes up, I think that’s where good medical physicists tend to come into their own. There is an interesting constant grapple between by-the book rigor and practical decision-making that makes experience and critical thinking so valuable in this field. (Coming from therapy background)</p>
<ol>
<li>
<p><strong>Response 6:</strong> Thanks for your comment. Can you give an example of the kind of “weird” thing that might come up? It’s hard for me to imagine such a scenario in a clinical setting.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Response 7:</strong> One that can happen quite often is when you have a patient set on the table ready to treat and their anatomy on the CT taken on the machine doesn’t quite match the reference CT (image we align to for image-guided therapy). We have to evaluate the severity of the problem, narrow potential issues that could be causing the misalignment, and weigh if it’s worth it to chase the problem. A “by the book” answer would be to chase any problem that arises and try to get perfect alignment. Practically, it’s not always feasible or beneficial for the patient to do so. The longer it takes to reach a solution, the less likely a patient is to stay still. It is good in these cases to have rule-of-thumb estimations offhand to determine how these errors would affect treatment and whether they should be addressed at that time.</p>
<p>You can pretty much come up with a weird situation for anything we do, though. Just when we think we’ve seen it all, something a little crazier happens. Such is life.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Response 8:</strong> I really appreciate the information. Thank you and wishing you all the best in your career :)</p>
</li>
</ol>
</li>
</ol>
<li>
<p><strong>Comment 5:</strong> What do I need to do to pass part 1?</p>
<ol>
<li>
<p><strong>Response 1:</strong> It’s worth noting part 1 overlaps therapy, imaging, and nuc med. There are elements of all of them in your exam. In past exams, there used to be a lot of general physics (block on a ramp, etc), but that seems to not be the case anymore. There is a list of topics on the ABR site that can help guide your studying. Sites like ABR Physics Help and WePassed are pretty popular. Quick review books like Khan’s Lectures and Huda’s Radiological Physics were huge for me along with an anatomy & physiology handbook.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Response 2:</strong> Know the interactions of particles. Know your radbio and just basic anatomy and physiology. Part 1 is more physics and less medical physics.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Response 3:</strong> Someone probably has good study material. Ask classmates.</p>
</li>
</ol>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Comment 6:</strong> How long are people preparing for part two? How many hours do you study a day?</p>
<ol>
<li>
<p><strong>Response 1:</strong> I don’t think I studied for part 2 until…oh shit nvm it’s already May. I spent like 3-4 hours a week in May and slowly ramped it up to like 10 in July.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Response 2:</strong> Thank you. It looks like I am on the same road lol. I started in April with my last rotation oral exam and now I am putting some 3 hours daily. I imagine between the end of residency and the exam, I'll be studying full time.</p>
</li>
</ol>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Comment 7:</strong> What does the CAMPEP accreditation timeline look like? If my two-year residency has, say, their accreditation through the end of 2024 (without renewal) but I start there in mid-2024, will I be grandfathered in or do you have to graduate before the accreditation times out?</p>
<ol>
<li>
<p><strong>Response 1:</strong> My understanding is that as long as the program is accredited when you start, you are grandfathered in. However, if you are nervous that the program won’t get their renewal, I wouldn’t apply there. Most programs work their asses off to keep their accreditation though. Something to ask during residency fair.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Response 2:</strong> Great, thanks!</p>
</li>
</ol>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Comment 8:</strong> I am planning on being a radiation therapist. However, I am looking into medical physics. If in the future, I get a bachelors in imaging, while also getting a minor in physics, with a bunch of calculus and high-level physics classes, would I still be considered a viable candidate in medical physics programs?</p>
<ol>
<li>
<p><strong>Response 1:</strong> One of my classmates was a therapist prior to joining the physics group. He basically did that as well.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Response 2:</strong> Sure! Check the schools requirements for physics classes and if you fulfill it, it should be fine. Is there a reason why you want to do that and not a physics major undergrad with an imaging minor? I'm certain most programs would like that better!</p>
</li>
</ol>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Comment 9:</strong> How are the industry job options for MRI physics? Thinking of getting into Computational Physics major with a minor in Imaging physics. For context, I finished my bachelor in Physics and did my thesis and an internship in Radiotherapy</p>
<ol>
<li>
<p><strong>Response 1:</strong> I'm not in industry but know some people in it, that are not medical physicists, I can speak to what they do</p>
<p>Pulse Sequence Programming/research: I have a friend at a major vendor (and I dabbled a bit on it in grad school) but it is HARD! A lot of MR knowledge and programming to optimize/create new pulse sequences. Research new sequences for faster acquisition with good SNR/contrast and all that.</p>
<p>Recon Programming: Creating new codes to perform recon on existing or new sequences, making recon faster/'real-time' (real-time recon is much needed for radiotherapy). Again, it goes well with the first one, as if you create a new sequence, you might as well know how to create a code to recon that data. Sometimes the codes are very crude, so people with high MR knowledge on this field can optimize the recons.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Response 2:</strong> Thanks for the reply! Do you know anything about the demand for this area? Seems like these are pretty specific roles and with so few companies building MRI’s it seems like it would be a pretty quickly saturated field</p>
</li>
</ol>
</li>
</ol>
<p>Original URL: <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/MedicalPhysics/comments/135hrv5/training_tuesday_weekly_thread_for_questions/">https://www.reddit.com/r/MedicalPhysics/comments/135hrv5/training_tuesday_weekly_thread_for_questions/</a></p>
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