Medical Physics part-time jobs for students?

[MedPhysStudent]

Hello! I am curently a 1st year graduate student in a CAMPEP Acrediated Master's program. I was wondering if there are any oppertunites for students to find part-time work to start building up the skills for residency? My program offers no tuition support or oppertunites until next year, so I am im stuck betwen needing to work and hoping to get applicable skills. Thank you!

 

[Choppy]

This sounds like a good question for the faculty members in your program.
Often medical physics graduate students can get jobs doing QA work in the radiation therapy facilities associated with their programs. This can include independently checking output and beam quality on linear accelerators, image quality measurements and assessment on on-board imaging systems or CT simulators, patient-specific dose verifications, brachytherapy source inventory, etc. Sometimes departments can also hire students for special projects, e.g. commissioning new equipment. The details would depend on the specifics of the institution.
Another avenue to look into is teaching assistant work. You are a graduate student and so you might be able to find some work, say instructing a first year physics or engineering lab.

 

[Vanadium 50]

I'm a little surprised that nothing even a little clinincal was on the list. Is this expected?

 

[Choppy]

I'm a little surprised that nothing even a little clinincal was on the list. Is this expected?

While I won't say that it never happens, the more clinical stuff like treatment planning, plan checking, consults, time in the operating room (brachytherapy), and patient-facing activities aren't generally done by students in my experience. Routine QA work on the other hand tends to be relatively straight forward, and high volume and a lower-risk point of entry into the field for students.

 

[kmargolumy]

Some places are actually cool with students doing QA stuff—like checking machines, imaging systems, or other basics.