Improving Access in Medical Physics Residency Programs for Physicists With Disabilities

Authors

Jessica M Fagerstrom
Grace Eliason
Hania Al-Hallaq
Brian A Taylor
Muhammad Ramish Ashraf
Natalie Viscariello

Publication Date

10-1-2024

Journal

Journal of Applied Clinical Medical Physics

Abstract

Within the landscape of medical physics education, residency programs are instrumental in imparting hands-on training and experiential knowledge to early-career physicists. Ensuring access to educational opportunities for physicists with disabilities is a legal, ethical, and pragmatic requirement for programs, considering that a significant proportion of the United States population has a disability. Grounded in conceptual frameworks of competency-based medical education and the social model of disability, this work provides an introduction to some practical recommendations for medical physics residency programs. Strategies include embracing universal design principles, fostering partnerships with disability service offices, using inclusive language, developing and publicizing clear procedures for disclosing disabilities and requesting accommodations, and maintaining an overall commitment to equitable access to education. This work urges medical physics residency leadership to proactively move towards training environments that support the needs of residents across the spectrum of disability, highlighting why disability inclusion fundamentally enriches diversity.

Keywords

Humans, Internship and Residency, Persons with Disabilities, Health Physics, United States

DOI

10.1002/acm2.14518

PMID

39284579

PMCID

PMC11466461

PubMedCentral® Posted Date

9-16-2024

PubMedCentral® Full Text Version

Post-print

Published Open-Access

yes