The Hybrid Model
It is hard to hire a medical physicist right now. There are centers that have had jobs posted for over a year. Some job websites have triple or quadruple the number of ads for medical physicists that they had just a year ago. I’ve written previously about why this is . At Atom Physics Staffing, we’re focused on creating solutions to help radiation oncology facilities with this problem. We have created a hybrid model for delivering physics that works well for many departments. Let me explain how it can help and when it can be the right choice for your facility.
Our hybrid model is designed to provide a combination of on-site physics and remote support. As with all of our solutions, we use only thoroughly vetted and board-certified medical physicists. You choose the physicist that best matches your facility after interviewing several of our candidates. What’s unique about our hybrid model is that the physicist does most of the work remotely but spends a few days on site each month. We work with your team to determine how many days per month the physicist will be on site and to estimate how many hours of remote support you need during the rest of the month. This isn’t the traditional way to do physics but let me share some situations where we’ve found this to be a great solution.
Add-on for solo physicist
The first situation in which the hybrid model works well is when you have a permanent solo physicist on staff and want to add a part-time or PRN physicist. In this case, the hybrid physicist would come on site once a month for a couple days during clinical hours to allow the solo physicist to either take vacation days, make doctors’ appointments, or work on special projects without the burden of the daily clinical duties. The hybrid physicist can provide additional remote support during times with heavy patient loads. And they can serve as the emergency backup if the on-site physicist must take sick days or has a medical procedure or any other unforeseen circumstances. If your permanent physicist takes a job elsewhere, the hybrid physicist can provide continuity by bridging the gap. That helps take away the worry of making a quick hire.
Release valve for physics team
We have also seen the hybrid model work well for departments that have several physicists already on staff at one or multiple facilities. If you have a job opening for a physicist or the staff you have is already working at full capacity and needs additional support, we can help. In this case, we usually provide a physicist who will come on site one of the weekends during the month and knock out some monthly machine QA. They then serve the rest of the month handling as much or as little of the daily clinical load from their home office as you need. This solution can really help add capacity, bridge a gap, or provide some relief for over-worked physics staff.
Solo physicist for smaller department
We also have hybrid physicists who serve as the solo physicist for a facility with a very low workload and no special procedures that require physics presence at the machine or in the department. This can either be a satellite clinic attached to a larger facility or a stand-alone single linac clinic. Our physicists are experienced and able to work without any other physicists on staff. We always look for solutions that are in the best interest of the patients, so we only offer this when we feel like it really is a good fit for the facility.
The beauty of the hybrid model is that it is scalable for your needs. You choose how many days a week you need the physicist on site and how many hours per week you need remote support. That allows us to customize a solution that gives you only what you need to keep your costs down. We also build in contingencies in case you need the hybrid physicist to be on site for unforeseen circumstances. Give us a call and let us show you how we can provide immediate help from our large pool of physicists during these tough hiring times.