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  1. Surveys
  2. 2014
  3. May
  4. P
  5. Physics Residency Match Feasibility
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Hello:

You are invited to participate in our survey regarding the feasibility of a Physics Residency Match Program, to be sponsored by AAPM and SDAMPP. An article in the AAPM newsletter's May issue describes the merits of starting a Match Program for physics residency programs, and a recent Point-Counterpoint article in the Medical Physics journal also deals with this issue. You are encouraged to read one or both of those articles before filling out this survey.

In this survey, Physics residency program directors will be asked about preferences for a possible future residency match program. It will take approximately 10-15 minutes to complete the questionnaire. Your participation in this study is completely voluntary, but it is very important for us to learn your opinions. Your survey responses will be strictly confidential and data from this research will be reported only in the aggregate. Your information will be coded and will remain confidential. If you have questions at any time about the survey or the procedures, you may contact John Antolak.

Thank you very much for your time and support. Please start with the survey now by clicking on the Continue button below.
 
 

Demographics

Please answer the following basic demographic questions (for classification purposes).
Yes No
* Radiation Therapy Physics Residency
* Diagnostic or Nuclear Medicine Residency
* USA-based physics residency program
* Recruit at the same time each year
* Target start date for residents is always near July 1
* Aware of WGCMPR Gentleman's Agreement (GA)
* Followed GA for 2014 recruitment
 
 

Match Program Participation

The following questions ask about your opinions regarding a possible physics residency match program. This match program would only apply to those programs that recruit for residency start dates on or near July 1.

If you never recruit for this start date, select N/A.
Yes Likely Uncertain Probably Not No N/A
* If the AAPM and/or SDAMPP were to sponsor a Match Program for physics residency programs that recruit for a July (or near July) start date, would you be willing to participate?
* If you were to participate in a Match Program, would you be willing to sign a match agreement? The agreement would specify rules for participants (programs and applicants), and bind you to accept applicants that are matched to your program. Participant rules would be vetted by the community prior to implementation.
 
 

Match Agreement – Residency Program

It is well known that majority participation is required for a successful matching program. The timeline for a match agreement has 3 significant dates for applicants and programs. The agreement date is the deadline to enroll in the match program and sign the match agreement. The rank date is the deadline to finalize the rank list, and the match date is the date when the match results are sent to applicants and programs.

The following question asks your opinion regarding what should be a violation of the program's match agreement.
Violation Maybe Not a Violation
Telling an applicant where they rank in your list, or that they rank to match
Asking an applicant where you rank in their list
Contacting an applicant prior to the match deadline to answer any questions they might have
Contacting an applicant prior to the match deadline to encourage them to rank your program highly
 
 
The following question asks your opinion about hypothetical situations involving a program participating in the match program. We will assume that there is a mechanism for a program to withdraw from the match program prior to the rank date.

In each case, please indicate whether you think the program's actions should be allowed by the match agreement.
Allowed Maybe Not Allowed
An applicant accepts an offer from a program (both are participating in the match agreement) before the rank date. The program withdraws from the match program.
An applicant that is not participating in the match program (e.g., graduating student or postdoc) accepts an offer from a program after the agreement date, but before the rank date. The program has not interviewed any other applicants and subsequently withdraws from the match program.
Same situation as above, but the program has interviewed other applicants prior to withdrawing from the match program.
 
 

Match Agreement – Residency Applicant

The following question asks your opinion regarding what should be a violation of an applicant's match agreement.
Violation Maybe Not a Violation
Telling a program where they rank in your list
Asking a program where you rank in their list
Contacting a program prior to the match deadline to ask questions about the program
Contacting a program prior to the match deadline to encourage the program to rank them highly
 
 
The following questions ask your opinion about hypothetical situations involving an applicant participating in the match program. We will assume that there is a mechanism for an applicant to withdraw from the match agreement, prior to the rank date.

In each case, please indicate whether you think the applicant's actions should be allowed by the match agreement.
Allowed Maybe Not Allowed
The applicant accepts an offer and withdraws from the match before the rank date, without doing any interviews.
The applicant accepts an offer and withdraws from the match before the rank date, after doing one or more interviews.
The applicant accepts an offer after the rank date, without doing any interviews (no possibility a program will rank the applicant).
The applicant accepts an offer after the rank date, after doing one or more interviews (a program could rank the applicant).
 
 

Matching and Affiliated Graduate Programs

The following question concerns a hypothetical residency program that is affiliated with a graduate program. In order to provide residency opportunities for their affiliated graduate students, the residency program decides to fill some residency positions with their own graduates, and fill remaining positions through the match program.

For the following hypothetical situations, please indicate whether it should be allowed under the match agreement. For situations where students or programs withdraw from the match program, assume that there is a mechanism in the match agreement to do so.
Allowed Maybe Not Allowed
The program recruits their own students at the same time as they are recruiting match applicants, but the students do not participate in the match program.
The program recruits their own students at the same time as they are recruiting match applicants, and the students also participate in the match program. Top students are offered residency positions before the rank date and withdraw from the match program.
The program completes recruitment of their own students before the match agreement date. Students that are not recruited are free to participate in the match agreement.
The program completes recruitment of their own students after the match agreement date, but before any students have been interviewed. Students that are recruited withdraw from the match program.
The program fills all of their positions from their student pool and withdraws from the match program for that year.
The program initially specifies that one position will be available in the match program, but increases the number of available positions after student recruitment and before the rank date.
 
 

Dealing with non-Match Programs

There are likely to be programs that choose to not participate in the match program, and they may decide to recruit at the same time as the match is occurring.

For each of the following hypothetical scenarios, assume that the applicant is participating in the match program and that the program is not. Please indicate whether or not you agree with the indicated opinion.
Agree Maybe Disagree
* A program chooses to recruit at the same time as the match program. The program makes an offer to an applicant who subsequently refuses the match that is offered in the match program. The applicant is in clear violation of the match agreement. Should AAPM and/or SDAMPP consider sanctions against the program and/or program director?
* Same situation, but the positions advertisement clearly states that the program does not want applications from match participants. Should AAPM and/or SDAMPP consider sanctions against the program and/or program director?
 
 
 
Thank you for taking the time to share your opinions with us.

If you feel you need to clarify any of your answers, or have any comments or suggestions that you are willing to share in this survey, please enter them here. We are also interested in suggestions for what should be in the match agreement (anything not covered in the above scenarios), or any ideas regarding effective deterrents for programs and/or applicants that might choose to violate the match agreement. You are also free to email John Antolak directly with comments and concerns.