Governance

The clinical practice of Medical Physics has administrative, clinical, and educational aspects. The essential responsibility of the clinical practice of medical physics is to ensure safe and effective patient care related to the physical aspects of medical imaging and radiation therapy. Qualified Medical Physicists (QMPs) are committed to ensuring the safety of patients, medical personnel, and the general public while improving quality of healthcare to ensure correct disease diagnosis and treatment (1). The clinical practice of Medical Physics focuses on applications of administrative, clinical, educational, informatics, equipment performance evaluation, and quality and safety for imaging and therapy. These include, but are not limited to, radiation oncology, medical imaging, image-guided medical procedures, and medical radiation safety, as well as innovative research and development in the aforementioned disciplines and the dissemination of scientific and technical information for the professional development of healthcare workers involved in these disciplines.

The Qualified Medical Physicist (QMP) works collaboratively with physician colleagues, biomedical engineers, information technology specialists, radiologic technologists, radiation therapists, medical dosimetrists, nurses and others, often providing supervision and oversight of staff to ensure that all radiation producing and related equipment remains safe and suitably calibrated, that radiation dose determinations are accurate, that digital data are accurately transferred between devices, and that all imaging modalities are functioning at their optimal levels. The QMP ensures that all such equipment, policies and procedures are in compliance with state and federal regulations and in keeping with published standards. The QMP's primary professional responsibility is to the staff and patient's safety and welfare.

Qualified Medical Physicists (2) have a unique combination of scientific and clinical education and training in physics principles, radiation physics applications, dosimetry planning, radiobiological principles, human anatomy, radiology and oncology principles, as well as safety analysis and quality control methods. A fully trained medical physicist demonstrates competence by obtaining certification from the appropriate certifying board in their subspecialty of practice (American Board of Radiology, American Board of Medical Physics, American Board of Science in Nuclear Medicine, or Canadian College of Physicists in Medicine), and is considered a Qualified Medical Physicist by pursuing continuing education and adhering to the Code of Ethics of the American Association of Physics in Medicine as published by the AAPM (3).

Qualified Medical Physicists working in clinical, research or educational environments, due to their training and professional focus, are crucial to the delivery of quality radiation therapy, performance of quality medical imaging, and protection of healthcare workers, patients and the general public from the potentially harmful effects of radiation and other physical phenomena such as magnetic fields and ultrasound. As such, Qualified Medical Physicists serve a vital role that is in the interests of the local, national and international communities.

References

(1) AAPM MPPG 10.a – Scope of Practice for clinical medical physics

(2) AAPM Policy PS 7A - Definition of A Qualified Medical Physicist

(3) AAPM Policy AP 128-A titled "Code of Ethics for the American Association of Physicists in Medicine"