Encrypted login | home

Program Information

Medical Physics Practice Guidelines


J Prisciandaro

M Chan

J Fontenot

D Cody





J Prisciandaro1*, M Chan2*, J Fontenot3*, D Cody4*, (1) University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, (2) Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Basking Ridge, NJ, (3) Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center, Baton Rouge, LA, (4) U.T.M.D Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX

TH-C-105-1 Thursday 10:30AM - 12:30PM Room: 105

The AAPM has long advocated a consistent level of medical physics practice, and has published many recommendations and position statements toward that goal, such as Science Council Task Group reports related to calibration and quality assurance, Education Council and Professional Council Task Group reports related to education, training, and peer review, and Board-approved Position Statements related to the Scope of Practice, physicist qualifications, and other aspects of medical physics practice. Despite these concerted and enduring efforts, the profession does not have clear and concise statements of the acceptable practice guidelines for routine clinical medical physics. As accreditation of clinical practices becomes more common, Medical Physics Practice Guidelines (MPPGs) will be crucial to ensuring a consistent benchmark for accreditation programs. To this end, the AAPM has recently endorsed the development of MPPGs, which may be generated in collaboration with other professional societies. The MPPGs are intended to be freely available to the general public. Accrediting organizations, regulatory agencies and legislators will be encouraged to reference these MPPGs when defining their respective requirements. MPPGs are intended to provide the medical community with a clear description of the minimum level of medical physics support that the AAPM would consider to prudent in all clinical practice settings. Support includes but is not limited to staffing, equipment, machine access, and training. These MPPGs are not designed to replace extensive Task Group reports or review articles, but rather to describe the recommended minimum level of medical physics support for specific clinical services. This session will describe the purpose, scope, and procedure for development of MPPGs and introduce the first two recently published MPPGs: (1) IGRT Commissioning and QA, and (2) CT Protocol Management and Review.

Learning objectives:

1. Understand the purpose and scope of MPPG from the AAPM
2. Understand the benefits and process of the development of MPPG by the AAPM
3. Introduce the first two AAPM MPPGs

Contact Email: