Standardisation of Medical Physics training in Europe

Abstract

Medical physics has done much to advance medicine. We can be proud of our collective accomplishments. The development of our profession in Europe has been driven by the regulatory requirements for radiation safety initially of staff and lately of patients. European legislation acknowledged the importance of physics in radiation protection of patients in the 1980s by requiring a “qualified expert in radiophysics” to be available to “sophisticated departments of radiotherapy and nuclear medicine”. In the 1990s the term “medical physics expert” (MPE) was introduced and the involvement of MPEs was foreseen also in “other radiological practices”. The new European Directive (59/2013) expanded the MPE’s role in patient radiation safety. It defines the roles and responsibilities of experts who should be involved in radiation protection. The role of the Radiation Protection Expert (RPE) and the Medical Physics Expert (MPE) is clearly defined. The requirements for information, training and education are also addressed in order to highlight the importance of education and training in radiation protection. According to article 14 member states must ensure the education training and retraining to allow the recognition of radiation protection experts and medical physics experts in the field. The new law which is now implemented in all Member States proves that medical physics has a lot more to offer and places our profession on a more profound ground and provides us with opportunities that we never had before. This is our big opportunity to evolve and make ourselves leaders in radiation protection within the hospital environment and beyond. In a number of European countries, binding regulations appear also on non ionizing radiation such as MRI, US and others. Artificial Intelligence and leaderships issues are also given a lot of attention. The presentation will provide the current information on education and training across Europe together with emerging challenges and opportunities.