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Clinical rotations are one of the paths to expand the scope of radiation oncology careers. Visiting different hospitals in your own country enables you to discover new machines, treatment planning systems, techniques and clinical practices. These differences are even more pronounced in a different country. You will also discover a different health care system, training program, department organisation with differences in the distribution of tasks. All this will make you more aware of the pros and cons of your own practice in your home country and enhance your experience and competence. Some other benefits are obvious such as culture, tourism or improving your skills in languages.

The steps to achieve a short clinical rotation are to identify a program that allows short rotation in your training program, to obtain funding and to choose a destination which matches your goals and accepts such short placements. An important point is to decide if you are looking to be a simple observer or if you have the aim to practise. The latter requires more formalities : checking the possibilities of diploma equivalence, registration to the national medical council and probably a language level evaluation.

I would highly encourage everyone to aim for such an experience.