THE MEDICAL PHYSICIST - SCIENTIST BEHIND THE CURTAIN

Ionizing radiation has validated its existence and effectiveness in modern medicine for both diagnostic and therapeutic use. For the last decade rapid growth in medical radiation application has witnessed in India towards the betterment of mankind, for safe and quality clinical practice, radiation protection and quality assurance. At the end of the 19th century Physics brought paradigm shift in the field of radiation-based medical diagnosis and treatment and giving rise to the modern medical physicist profession and revolutionized the practice of medicine. Medical Physicists are the scientists with Post graduation / PhD degrees, and certified from A.E.R.B as Radiological Safety Officer, deals with utilization of Physics knowledge in developing not only lifesaving tools & technology but also diagnosis and treatments of various medical conditions that help humans live longer and healthier. Medical Physicists are responsible to carry out the commissioning, establishment of entire Radiation facility and get the clearance of statutory compliances form authorities in order to start the clinical practice are also responsible for research, developing and evaluating new analytical techniques, planning and ensuring safe and accurate treatment of patients also provide advice about radiation protection, training and updating healthcare, scientific and technical staff , managing radiotherapy quality assurance program, mathematical modeling ,maintaining equipment ,writing reports, teaching ,laboratory management and administration. Now it’s a time to raise the curtain from the Medical Physics profession and utilize their services up to maximum extent in the field of scientific research, academic, teaching, diagnosis, treatment and safety.

The necessity of implementation of medical physicists’ certification in Ukraine

Medical physics is a dynamic and constantly growing field of applied physics mainly directed towards the applications of physics principles to health care. Among the technological novations there is the optimization of image quality for magnetic resonance imaging, ultrasound diagnostics, and computer tomography; development and use of high energy linear accelerators with sophisticated options for dose delivery; computerized treatment planning systems, record and verification systems; overall integration of computers into the routine clinical work. The key role of the medical physicist is widely recognized to ensure the safe and effective use of modern equipment for medical exposure. Medical physicists are involved in four basic activities: clinical service, research, and development, teaching, and management/administration. In addition, they should be familiar with the safety culture and promote this principle among the medical staff for the improvement of radiation safety, setting an example by their behaviour. There is no the best practice for the certification of medical physicists in international experience. The paper presents an attempt to analyse international standards and propose recommendations for the implementation of medical physicist’ certification in Ukraine. According to the authors, this will strongly influence on nation’s health.

Evaluation of Patient Exposure After an Emergency Warm-Up of the CT X-Ray Tube

Summary A survey was performed to evaluate patient exposure after a procedure for the CT X-ray tube’s emergency warm-up, with the patient positioned on the table within the CT gantry. Three CT units, situated in three different University hospitals, were included in the survey. The evaluation was performed with AGFA personal monitoring films to visualize the results and discuss them with the radiographers who operate the systems. Additional measurements were performed with the RaySafe X2 system to demonstrate the presence of exposure. The air kerma resulting from implementing the warm-up protocol was evaluated to be higher than 112 μGy, 409 μGy, and 807 μGy for each of the CT units. Those values were underestimated because of the dosimetry equipment used and the methodology. A discussion between medical staff, engineers, and medical physicist was initiated. The practice with unnecessary patient exposure was terminated.

Development of a novel medical physics patient consult program

PurposeTo develop a new patient consult program, where patients are invited to meet directly with a clinical medical physicist to learn and ask questions about the technical aspects of their care.MethodsPatients are invited to meet voluntarily with a clinical medical physicist directly after the treatment planning CT appointment, and then again after treatment starts. Each consult starts with an overview of the clinical medical physicist’s role in patient care. This is followed by a detailed explanation of the treatment planning CT, treatment planning, and treatment delivery processes. Data are collected after each patient encounter, including: age, gender, treatment intent, treatment site, consult duration, discussion points, overall impression, and a summary of the questions asked. Qualitative data analysis focused on understanding the number and types of questions asked during the physics consults. Additional analyses focused on evaluating the encounter notes for interesting insights regarding meeting tone, number of meeting attendees, and other non-clinical discussion points.ResultsSixty three patients were seen between August 2016 and December 2017, accounting for 29% of the total department patient load. The average physics consult duration was 24 minutes. When evaluating the patient encounter notes for overall tone, 55 patients (87%) had positive descriptors such as “pleasant conversation”. Thirty three patients (52%) brought at least one other person into the consult, and 27 patients (43%) contributed personal stories or professional background information to the conversation. When the collection of patient questions was grouped into question types, the data show that the majority of the consult discussion addresses questions related to treatment delivery, treatment planning, and other technical questions.ConclusionsIncorporation of a medical physics patient consult program into clinical practice requires modest time commitment, and has the benefits of increasing medical physics engagement with patient care and improving patient satisfaction through better education.