3570 - Utilization Assessment of the Introductory Radiation Oncology Curriculum (IROC) for Radiation Oncology Trainees

A. Stark¹, D. W. Golden², E. C. Fields³, and R. B. Jimenez⁴; ¹VCU Health/Massey Cancer Center, Richmond, VA, United States, ²Department of Radiation and Cellular Oncology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, ³Department of Radiation Oncology, Virginia Commonwealth University Health System, Massey Cancer Center, Richmond, VA, ⁴Department of Radiation Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

Purpose/Objective(s): The Radiation Oncology Education Collaborative Study Group (ROECSG) Introductory Radiation Oncology Curriculum (IROC) is a national effort to facilitate the transition into radiation oncology residency and has proven feasible and effective for orienting incoming radiation oncology residents. Prior to 2020, the course was available only to programs participating in the study to test the curriculum efficacy. This initial group included 4 residency programs in 2017 and by 2019 included 55 programs and 137 residents. To reach a broader audience, IROC was made publicly available on the ROECSG website beginning in June 2021 with a brief survey required to access the educational materials. This study evaluates the survey data to characterize how IROC is being utilized. Materials/

Methods: The survey included four required prompts requesting name, email, institution, and how the respondent learned about IROC. Additional voluntary questions inquired about intended educational use for incoming residents, the participant’s role within a residency program, and a free text box to describe intentions for IROC materials if the plan was not to use it for incoming residents.
Results: A total of 695 responses were received. Duplicate and fake emails were removed with a total of 544 responses for analysis. IROC was accessed from 42 US states and 50 countries. 296/545 (60%) of respondents indicated that they planned to use IROC with incoming residents. These respondents were trainees (57%), teaching faculty or program leadership (27%), and program administration (16%). 544 respondents answered how they learned about IROC: colleague (194/544), ROECSG (103/544), social media (103/544), other (79/544), ASTRO (33/54), journal article (27/544), and ADROP (5/544).
Conclusion: The majority of IROC users were medical trainees and educators with national and international engagement. Interaction with colleagues and social media were the most influential communication methods, suggesting optimal methods for future distribution of novel radiation oncology educational curricula. A future update to IROC is planned to continue to meet the evolving needs of incoming radiation oncology residents.