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HomeSurvey on education and training of medical physicists in the Member States of the European Community with reference to the Patient Directive (84/466/Euratom)
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On 3 September 1984 the Council of the European Communities adopted the Directive 84/466/EURATOM laying down basic measures for the radiation protection of persons undergoing medical examination or treatment (Patient Directive) and asked the Member States to take measures necessary to ensure compliance of their national regulations with the Council Directive by 1 January 1986. The aim of the Directive is to protect the patient by avoiding unjustifiable radiation doses through lack of professional knowledge or inadequate technical equipment. Of special relevance is Article 5 of the Directive which states that a qualified expert in radiophysics shall be available to sophisticated departments of radiotherapy and nuclear medicine. The expert in radiophysics will normally be a medical physicist. In order to assist the Member States with the implementation of the Patient Directive and to reduce the differences which still exist in the level of radiation protection, as well as in the qualification requirements of staff specially trained for patient protection, the CEC took the initiative and asked the Federal Health Office in the Federal Republic of Germany to undertake a survey on Education and Training of Medical Physicists in the Countries of the European Community with reference to the Patient Directive, including the expertise of the relevant professional organisations. A meeting was convened in Neuherberg to which also experts from the European Federation of Organisations for Medical Physics (EFOMP) were invited. It was agreed that a questionnaire should be distributed to both, Medical Physics Organisations in EC Member States and non-EC countries, since half of the EFOMP member organizations are from these Countries and the community could benefit from their experience with education and training programmes in medical physics. The questionnaire was sent out in December 1988 and the results of the survey were discussed in a follow-up meeting. The survey has shown that in practice medical physicists are already working with a qualification in radiophysics, even if not yet recognized in all EC countries as qualified expert in radiophysics in the sense of article 5 of the patient directive. The number of medical physicists with a qualification in radiophysics per 1 million population depends on the degree of complexity of physical methods and procedures applied to radiodiagnosis and therapy. In addition the number depends on whether the concept of the qualified expert in radiophysics has already been introduced in the legislation or is influenced by national characteristics. According to the survey, in half of the EC Member States the concept of the qualified expert in radiophysics has been introduced in the legislation. However, the introduction of the concept should be considered only as a first step towards complete implementation. Considering the different terms which are used in relevant European regulations to specify the person competent for the radiation protection of the patient it can be concluded that harmonization is needed in this area. Concerning the qualification in radiophysics, all medical physics organisations recommend post-graduate education by courses and on-the-job training (in some countries formulations are underway and training not yet practiced). The duration of the courses varies between 1 year and 3 years, duration of on-the-job training between 6 months and 4 years. These recommendations are in agreement with the EFOMP - Policy Documents on Education and Training of Medical Physicists. Regular courses are available in Belgium, France, FRG, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands and in the UK. So far regular courses are not available in Denmark, Portugal and Spain. As far as information is available on details of the different course programmes it can be seen that the curricula are equivalent, starting with fundamentals of radiation biology and radiation protection. The education includes all areas of the application of radiation in radiotherapy, radiodiagnosis and nuclear medicine. The education and training programmes for qualified medical physicists in the application of ionizing radiation to patients either legally required or recommended by the national medical physics organisation comply with the definition of the term diploma within the meaning of the Directive 89/48/EEC on the Recognition of Higher-Education Diplomas, which includes a successfully completed university study of at least 3 years and, when appropriate, successful completion of the professional training required in addition to the basics graduation. Formal recognition of education and training by government bodies is so far only realized in France and Greece. In some other countries recognition of further qualification is awarded by the medical physics organisations. Based on the response of the corresponding medical physics organisation the concept of the qualified expert in radiophysics has been introduced also in the legislation of non-EC countries. The medical physics education and taining situation in the non-EC countries varies much more from country to country than within the Community, indicating that there a certain level of harmonization is already reached. When comparing the percentages of qualified medical physicists in the different areas radiotherapy, nuclear medicine and diagnostic radiology with the equivalent figures within the Community a trend can be seen towards more qualified medical physicists working in diagnostic areas. Although radiation exposure due to diagnostic radiology is the major contribution to the exposure of the population by man-made radiation sources, this area has not yet received the necessary attention with respect to radiation protection of the patient.
- Utgiven:
- Författare: Directorate-General for Environment (Europeiska kommissionen) , Directorate-General for the Information Society and Media (Europeiska kommissionen)
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| ISSN 1018-5593 | ISBN 92-826-2478-8 | DOI | Katalognummer CD-NA-13-298-EN-C |
- Released on EU publications website:
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