WE‐A‐211‐03: IOMP: Guidance on Education and Training Requirements for Medical Physicists

Abstract

Purpose: To present the IOMP recommendations on the roles and responsibilities of medical physicists and the corresponding basic requirements for education and training (E&T). Special focus will be given to the development of E&T efforts in Asian‐Pacific countries and Europe. Methods: In line with its mission, IOMP is publishing new Policy Statements on “Role and Responsibilities of the Medical Physicist” and “Basic Requirements for Education and Training of Medical Physicists”. IOMP is also proposing a new Model Curriculum that is already available on‐line at http://emerald2.eu/mep_11.html. This e‐book includes 39 papers, various e‐Learning and Open source materials, International Education/Training projects and University courses from 27 countries. This first volume is including a strong participation of Asian‐Pacific countries, represented at AFOMP. Also AFOMP developed “Policy Statement No. 3: recommendations for the education and training of medical physicists in AFOMP countries” in 2011. At the European level we must refer the Medical Physics Expert European Project. The main objectives of the European Commission project ‘Guidelines on Medical Physics Expert’ are to provide for improved implementation of the provisions relating to the Medical Physics Expert (MPE) as it was defined in the Council Directive 97/43/EURATOM, known as the Medical Exposures Directive, (MED) and the recently proposed recast Basic Safety Standards (BSS) Directive. This includes harmonization of the mission statement, education and training of the MPE among the Member States of the European Union. Results: In all of these initiatives the expected results point to the identification of gaps in education contents, identification of minimum education and training requirements and definitions of required knowledge, skills and competences in Medical Physics. Conclusions: It is certainly a role of IOMP to contribute to the guidance on the harmonization of the different educational pathways and approaches all over the world.