WE-E-203-04: Development of a Web Accessible, Data Base to Facilitate Managing Medical Physics Residencies

Abstract

Purpose: Develop software tools to facilitate managing documentation of a medical physics residency program Method and Materials:Medical physics residency programs are often carried out in busy clinics with few additional staffing resources. Creating a process that is both efficient and meets CAMPEP and university requirements for documenting the resident's entry into and progress through the program can be challenging. When the process involves faculty on multiple campuses, difficulty of the task is increased. Various tools for managing the data electronically were evaluated and a single approach converged upon. Results: Managing data using an SQL database, using web based applications (ASP.Net/C#.Net) as interfaces to the database was the preferred approach. This allowed greater flexibility than spread sheet based solutions and was more easily generalized for use by other medical physics residency programs. Initial applications were created and used to manage application materials for the residency, enable faculty to rank applications through all 4 phases of the process and aggregate statistics on the rankings to inform discussions. Additional applications are being developed to replace the spread sheet based documentation currently used to document resident progress through the program. Conclusion: Managing information on medical physics residencies with a database having a web based interface provides significant advantages for efficient use of staffing resources, facilitating reporting and aggregation of relevant statistics. A solution has been created that may be used by other institutions. Such efforts could form the basis of a unified approach among the various medical physics residency programs.