"Radiation Therapy Advanced Practitioners"?

[hypersomniac_]

Anybody heard of this? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation_therapist

Granted, wiki isn't reliable, but "Eventually, the RTPs will be able to become Consultant Practitioners with doctoral degrees, who will be the experts in the radiation therapy & medical dosimetry field and will be able to prescribe radiation doses without any physician supervision."?? It seems to be legitimately spreading in Canada and possibly the UK, and it is the path midlevels have taken in many other fields (complete with bogus "doctoral degree" to ensure they can call themselves doctor).

I'm strongly considering applying in rad onc but a little concerned that it might head towards a anesthesia style of midlevel (CRNA) management rather than now where you seem to basically be able to take care of your own patients with use of dosimetry and physics as needed. With this plan the therapists are taking care of the patient, the physicists are overseeing the plans and you're... the pointy headed boss in the Dilbert strips? Ick.

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[amherstguy]

medicine is becoming a ****ing joke nowadays; how the hell can u let a nurse or some chump with a community college degree plus a "masters" administer radiation?

 

[dosimetry]

The field of dosimetry is quite distinct from medicine, it's just like optometry, audiology, pharmacy, or any other paramedical areas with doctoral degrees. It's a lot more physics oriented (and I believe there's a development for Phys.D as well for the clinical physicists or med. physicists).


ps: Dosimetry is being viewed as a part of radiation therapy in Canada, thus the name "dosimetrists" are not being used when talking about the advanced practice therapists, but those practitioner candidates are all very experienced medical dosimetrists according to the U.S. definition.

 

[dosimetry]

medicine is becoming a ****ing joke nowadays; how the hell can u let a nurse or some chump with a community college degree plus a "masters" administer radiation?

Actually, it's only being developed in the UK & Canada (Ontario), where the minimum education requirement for a radiation therapist is a university degree, and the selection process is about the same in difficulty compares to pharmacy. If I am correct, there should be about or fewer than 80 therapists graduating within Ontario each year.

The curriculum of the Canadian schools are also quite different from the American ones. Dosimetry & physics comprise about half of all the professional courses, where as in the States the dosimetry programs (postgrad or master degrees, only accepting about 15-20 people each year in total) are separate from radiation therapy programs (mostly college I suppose?).

 

[dosimetry]

Now I wouldn't say that the doctoral degree is used to compare themselves to medical doctors or to rob any MDs' jobs, but the doctoral degree simply means that they are the experts in the dosimetry field (which is not pure physics, and definitely not medicine as well). They are simply the method to elevate their career & knowledge into the next level, and to assist them to get into positions like chief dosimetrist, department manager, or chief radiation therapy researcher (many pharmacies require their managers to have Pharm.D.s as well).

 

[dosimetry]

Oh and of course I do not want a lot of development in mid-level practitioners to happen because I only came into this field in order to have a backup if I cannot get into med school (cumulative U. average about 90% or so, I think I might have a shot ), and my dad is also a radiologist.

However, I would agree to the development of a doctoral degree in medical dosimetry because as long as their doctorates are defined in their areas (in this case, dosimetry) then it should be fine. OTDs, PTDs, Pharm.Ds, Aud.Ds, ODs, and Psy.Ds have existed for a long time and there're no interference between them and the MDs.

 

[megaton]

Oh and of course I do not want a lot of development in mid-level practitioners to happen because I only came into this field in order to have a backup if I cannot get into med school (cumulative U. average about 90% or so, I think I might have a shot ), and my dad is also a radiologist.

However, I would agree to the development of a doctoral degree in medical dosimetry because as long as their doctorates are defined in their areas (in this case, dosimetry) then it should be fine. OTDs, PTDs, Pharm.Ds, Aud.Ds, ODs, and Psy.Ds have existed for a long time and there're no interference between them and the MDs.

so are you still pursuing radiation therapy? ive got some questions. pm me please.

 

[Werg]

"Eventually, the RTPs will be able to become Consultant Practitioners with doctoral degrees, who will be the experts in the radiation therapy & medical dosimetry field and will be able to prescribe radiation doses without any physician supervision."

If that did happen I'm sure they'd be in for quite a battle with both the rad oncs and the physicists.

Also to clarify about the professional doctorate for medical physicists, it is not really the same as the other ones that have been popping up left and right. Medical physics already has a doctorate degree, the PhD. The only reason the new DMP degree is being pushed now is to pay for the new medical physics residency requirement that will go into effect in 2014. Basically they need to create about 10x as many physics residency spots as are currently available, but there is no money. The logic goes like this: Take an MS and add a residency and call it a Doctor of Medical Physics, all on the student's dime. Presto, no more residency funding problem! The DMP title is just cooked up to make it seem like a good deal for the students who are now out 2 more years of tuition instead of being paid as residents.

You might guess that I'm not in favor of the plan, even though it will probably mean less competition for me down the road...