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ARROgram #12
April 13, 2004
Spring 2004 ARRO Executive Committee Meeting Report
The ARRO Executive Committee met on April 1, 2004 in
Chicago for the annual Spring meeting, and here is the
report regarding some of our activities over the past
few months.
1. Election results: The Executive
Committee welcomed its new junior officers and bade
farewell to the outgoing senior officers. We want to
thank Drs. David Buck, Mark Engleman, and Anurag Singh
for their dedication and commitment during their two
years of service on the Executive Committee. The ARRO
Executive Committee for the 2004-05 year is:
Dr. Reshma Jagsi rjagsi@partners.org
-ARRO Chair and Delegate to the AMA
Dr. Vipul Thakkar (thakkav@ccf.org)-ARRO
Vice-Chair, Website Coordinator, Representative to the
ACR and ACRO
Dr. Steven Frank (sjfrank@mdanderson.org)-ARRO
Treasurer, Representative to the RRC and AAPM
Dr. Shilpen Patel (shilpenp@yahoo.com)-ARRO
Education Officer, Representative to ADROP and ASCO
Dr. Eric Hansen (erickhansen@yahoo.com)-ARRO
Election Officer, co-Assistant Website Coordinator,
Alternate Delegate to the AMA
Dr. John Wilson (wilsonj@xrt.upenn.edu)-Events
Officer, co-Assistant Website Coordinator
2. Boards retiming: The ARRO
Executive Committee is pleased that the ABR has agreed
to our request that residents be allowed to take the
radiobiology and physics sections of the written exam
in the summer beginning their fourth year of training,
effective for the class graduating in 2006 and thereafter.
Thanks to all of you who participated in our survey
regarding your preferences regarding boards timing.
We have been informed that those taking this option
will not face additional fees. We also inquired, after
getting messages from several residents on this point,
whether the two classes would be curved separately (to
avoid giving an unfair advantage to the class that has
to study only for the physics and bio sections, while
the other class has to sit for all three sections at
once). The reply was that "the ABR does not grade the
written exam on a 'curve.' They establish a passing
grade prior to the exam administration. The grade is
close to 70% correct answers, but is adjusted for the
difficulty of the am, according to the ABR biometrician.
Since the exam will have all 'A' type questions [explanation:
no more matching or true-false] the passing grade may
be lower, but has not been determined yet."
3. Unsealed sources-new requirement:
The RRC for Radiation Oncology will require experience
with unsealed sources. This requirement will go into
effect in 2005 and will fulfill NRC requirements for
radiation workers. While some programs perform such
procedures in the radiation oncology department, others
do so in nuclear medicine, and residents will need to
ensure that they obtain adequate experience to meet
these new requirements. Didactic lectures will be required
of individual residency programs, board questions will
be incorporated into the written exam, and six cases
(I-131, strontium, etc) will be required to be logged
during residency.
4. Case logs: The RRC requires
programs to have residents use the web-based case log
system. This requirement went into effect on July 1,
2003, but the RRC has found that one third of programs
aren't using the system. They will be enforcing this
strictly, so beware so that you don't have to go back
and do this all from memory when your program gets reviewed,
which will be much harder! The use of medical record
numbers and social security numbers in this system is
considered acceptable and does not violate HIPAA.
5. In-service exam: ARRO is
corresponding with the ACR to ensure that detailed explanations
of the answers are made available to residents, as well
as to improve the extent to which the in-service examination
reflects the types of questions included in the written
board examination. If you have questions, please e-mail
Vipul.
6. Book discounts: The ARRO
Executive Committee has secured book discounts for some
of the most commonly needed books (including new Perez
& Khan) on www.ecampus.com. You can access these
discounts by clicking on "sponsored schools" in the
upper right corner. ARRO is listed at the bottom of
the list of sponsored schools/organizations. If questions,
e-mail Vipul.
7. Survey Results Publication:
The results of the ARRO annual surveys from 2000-02
will be published in the upcoming issue of the Red Journal.
The surveys yielded a number of interesting findings
regarding the current state of residency training, residents'
career motivations and aspirations, and demographics.
8. Survey lottery winners:
We are pleased to announce the results of the lottery
that was held to thank the participants in the 2003
ARRO survey. Dr. Daniel Landis of the JCRT won $250,
Dr. Gayle Tillman of Stanford won $100, Dr. Zach Fowler
of Emory won $50, and Dr. Scott Soltys of Stanford won
$50. We will soon be submitting the ARRO 2003 surveys
for publication, which, thanks to all of you, achieved
the highest response rate in a decade!
The new Executive Committee has a number of exciting
ideas for the coming year, and we promise to keep you
posted regularly. We are redesigning our website and
hope to have a more user-friendly and interactive site
up soon. We will report back to you regularly to keep
you updated. Please don't hesitate to contact any of
us if you have comments, suggestions, or questions.
Thanks!
Reshma Jagsi, MD, DPhil
ARRO Executive Committee Chair,
Resident in Radiation Oncology Massachusetts General
Hospital
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