Located in the heart of the Coachella Valley, you have access to resort-style living and world-class amenities throughout Southern California.
Job Objective:
Responsible for assuring the delivery of high-quality radiation therapy through participation in linear accelerator quality assurance, treatment planning, and consultation in accordance with AAPM standards. Responsible for communicating with physicians, radiation therapist, dosimetrists, office personnel and nurses as needed to improve and excel at patient care in radiation therapy. Provides technical support and skills for adoption of new technology and is continually looking at opportunities for improving the delivery of physics and dosimetry support within the department. Assures a high level of treatment delivery by maintaining quality assurance and calibration procedures for all radiation devices according to currently accepted protocols and standards of practice. Oversight of radiation safety in department. Oversight, coordination and management of maintenance and other vendor contracts specific to radiation therapy. Responsible for treatment planning physics, radiation safety and regulatory oversight for both Rancho Mirage and La Quinta facilities. Supervises workflow and operations of department.
Job Description:
Education:
Required: Master of Science or Ph.D. in Medical Physics or related field
Licensure/Certification:
Required: Certification in Therapeutic Radiological Physics by the ABR or ABMP; American Heart Association BLS; California Therapeutic Calibration Physicist (TCP) and Radioactive Materials License (RML) required within six (6) months of hire into position
Experience:
Required: Five (5) years of experience in medical physics post residency from a CAMPED accredited medical physics residency program
Essential Responsibilities:
- Demonstrate compliance with Code of Conduct and compliance policies, and takes action to resolve compliance questions or concerns and report suspected violations.
- Complies with NRC and CDPH regulations; adheres to institutional policies and procedures.
- Performs all physics responsibilities for EMC radiation therapy departments which requires knowledge of an advanced field of science acquired by a prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction and study specific to radiation physics.
- Reviews patient charts on a daily and weekly basis; verifies total delivered radiation dose in ARIA.
- Output and energy consistency, Patient positioning laser congruence with isocenter. Accuracy of digital and mechanical readouts, Accuracy of optical distance indicator, Light field/ radiation field congruence.
- Operation of safety systems- door interlock - CCTV system and intercom - radiation warning lamps, etc.
- Notes treatment overrides, note outstanding dose action points and follow up, complete electronic chart check in ARIA and charge continuing medical physics.
- Create stereotactic (SRS) plans, import all CT and MRI images to perform plan.
- Fuse all MR images to the CT database, contour all normal structures such as eyes, optic nerves, brainstem, etc. Establish isocenter inside drawn treatment volume, determine number and placement of arcs to deliver optimal dose distribution, export all approved plan data to ARIA and RadCalc or Clear Calc.
- Calibrates therapy linear accelerators according to the AAPM TG-
- Maintain NIST traceable calibrations on all ionization chambers and electrometers used for absolute calibration.
- Determines beam quality for both photon and electron beams. Measure accelerator output using correct set up geometry, correcting for variation in air pressure, phantom temperature and beam quality.
- Adjusts the accelerator dose integrator boards to keep output within specifications.
- Performs monthly and annual quality assurance tests on medical linear accelerators according to AAPM TG-
- Trains and supervises physicists and dosimetrists who work in and out through the department.
- Coordinates, reviews and recommends action on maintenance contracts and work with Varian on upgrades and equipment needs.
- Leads radiation safety for the department and serve on the EMC radiation safety committee.
- Responsible for oversight and integration with Information Systems on all software and treatment planning modalities.
- Leads licensing and certification projects for the departments.
- Together with the manager and medical director, plans, prepares, implements, monitors and controls the budget to ensure sound fiscal management consistent with the goals of the hospital.
Essential Skils:
- Strong knowledge of medical physics practice in a clinical environment. Familiar with Federal and California radiation safety, and regulatory requirements
- Treatment planning will include 3-D, IMRT, SRS, SBRT, HyperArc, etc.
- Ability to research, learn and utilize new treatment modalities (e.g. Respiratory gating, 4-D, stereotactic radiosurgery
- Conduct quality assurance on IMRT and MLC’s (point dose measurements, film dosimetry, analysis of data
- Brachytherapy: prostate seed implementation.
- Ability to conduct weekly chart checks, final close outs
- Ability to perform routine maintenance accelerator duties
- Staying current with best practices that conform to recommendation from AAPM, ACR, ASTRO and other professional organizations
- Ability to convey complex ideas and facilitate cooperation among members of the Radiation Oncology team
- Innovative
- Written and verbal communication skills
- Ability to communicate complex ideas and facilitate work group cooperation amongst physics, physicians, dosimetry, sim techs, radiation techs, etc.
- IMRT Treatment planning, prostate, head/neck, breast, pancreases, brain
- Ability to calibrate linear accelerators
