So you have been to school, taken classes, and are familiar with the classroom setting. But what is it like to have a clinical rotation? Read on to find out!

A dosimetry clinical rotation is basically on-the-job training for students, along with “practice” scenarios. Students have a required amount of hours to complete in the clinical rotation, as well as assignments and items that must be completed during those hours. Staff will sign off for completed tasks and students are regularly evaluated and provided feedback on performance until a competency level is reached.

For medical dosimetry, students are in the hospital, in the offices of the dosimetrists. They get to watch the dosimetrists work on planning, calculations, and follow along for patient-related tasks such as immobilization and setup for CT simulation scans. Their observations are typically self-driven, allowing students the freedom to somewhat organize their schedules to maximize their learning experiences.

In addition to observations, students are given their own computers to work on for planning. At first, they are given “dummy” patients to practice on. Then, as their skills develop, students can assist and work on real clinical patients, under the supervision of a staff dosimetrist.

A unique benefit to clinical educational programs is that the classroom learning and clinical rotations all tie in directly to a job. Everything the student learns is put into practice in the clinic, forming a well-rounded education. In essence, a clinical training program is a trade school for the medical field.

One last thing I will mention is that these rotations involve a fair amount of paperwork for the educators and the students (to a lesser degree). Some programs use paper while others have moved online. At Loma Linda University we use a hybrid system and try to implement technology where it is best suited.

Hope that helped explain a few things!

References

Thanyakij, B. (Photographer.) (2020, February 18). Woman discussing a lesson. [digital image]. Retrieved from https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-discussing-a-lesson-3758869/?utm_content=attributionCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=pexels