The second year of residency builds on the fundamentals learned during the first year, with reinforcement in the basic clinical areas and new experience in more specialized areas of radiation oncology. Added responsibility includes medical student oversight and responsible physician duties. The second year of residency is designed to provide more independence for the resident in the simulator and with on-treatment patient management, and increased familiarity with the clinical aspects of additional disease sites. By the end of the second year, the resident research project should be initiated, with interim goals established.

Specific aims of Year 2:

• To demonstrate competence in the radiotherapy process and accept increasing responsibility for the care and treatment of patients on your designated service;
• To demonstrate the skill necessary to provide instructions to the technical staff regarding immobilization, simulation, planning and delivery of all patients under his/her care;
• To demonstrate increased proficiency in monitoring these processes while requiring progressively less need for revision by the attending staff;
• To initiate treatment plans (including target and normal tissue definition) while requiring progressively less need for faculty correction;
• To provide the rationale for the treatment of patients under his/her care and critically evaluate alternative approaches;
• To acquire familiarity with special radio-therapeutic procedures including intracavitary brachytherapy, IMRT and stereotactic radiosurgery;
• To demonstrate an understanding of the natural history, workup, treatment options, radio-therapeutic management and outcome of most major cancer sites;
• To demonstrate a basic understanding of the early and late normal tissue effects from radiation, chemotherapy and combined treatment approaches.