BACKGROUND: Since 2017, in France, medical physicists (MP) are finally defined by law as health professionals and as such, the roles and responsibilities of an MP lean on those medical professional ethics but MPs lack initial or continuing training in this subject. In order to find out how our colleagues feel about this subject, the following survey was conducted.
METHODS: French Society of Medical Physics (SFPM) designed a web survey addressed to its members and non-members concerning ethics based on the 2013 AAPM work; experience and training were highlighted as particularly important within the survey structure.
RESULTS: 249 answers were collected and showed a pronounced concern at the lack of initial and continuous training in this subject. Professional experience of non-ethical behaviour was attributed to the lack of training, resources or competences and hostile work environments.
CONCLUSIONS: To address the shortcomings highlighted in the survey, SFPM has created a dedicated voluntary working group aimed at producing a professional code of ethics for MP and training modules to be applied at entry level or as continuing professional development for education.

Several staffing models are used to determine the required medical physics staffing, including radiotherapy technologists, of radiation oncology departments. However, since Japanese facilities tend to be smaller in scale than foreign ones, those models might not apply to Japan. Therefore, in this study, we surveyed workloads in Japan to estimate the optimal medical physics staffing in external beam radiotherapy. A total of 837 facilities were surveyed to collect information regarding radiotherapy techniques and medical physics specialists (RTMPs). The survey covered facility information, staffing, patient volume, equipment volume, workload and quality assurance (QA) status. Full-time equivalent (FTE) factors were estimated from the workload and compared with several models. Responses were received from 579 facilities (69.2%). The median annual patient volume was 369 at designated cancer care hospitals (DCCHs) and 252 across all facilities. In addition, the median FTE of RTMPs was 4.6 at DCCHs and 3.0 at all sites, and the average QA implementation rate for radiotherapy equipment was 69.4%. Furthermore, advanced treatment technologies have increased workloads, particularly in computed tomography simulations and treatment planning tasks. Compared to published models, larger facilities (over 500 annual patients) had a shortage of medical physics staff. In very small facilities (about 140 annual patients), the medical physics staffing requirement was estimated to be 0.5 FTE, implying that employing a full-time medical physicist would be inefficient. However, ensuring the quality of radiotherapy is an important issue, given the limited number of RTMPs. Our study provides insights into optimizing staffing and resource allocation in radiotherapy departments.

This study aimed to investigate the educational environment of radiotherapy technology and medical physics specialists (RTMP) in Japan. We conducted a nationwide questionnaire survey in radiotherapy institutions between June and August 2022. Participants were asked questions regarding the educational system, perspectives on updating RTMP\'s skills and qualifications, and perspectives on higher education for RTMP at radiotherapy institutions. The results were then analyzed in detail according to three factors: whether the hospital was designed for cancer care, whether it was a Japanese Society for Radiation Oncology (JASTRO)-accredited hospital, and whether it was an intensity-modulated radiation therapy charged hospital. Responses were obtained from 579 (69%) nationwide radiation therapy institutions. For non-qualified RTMP, 10% of the institutions had their own educational systems, only 17% of institutions provided on-the-job training, and 84% of institutions encouraged participation in educational lectures and workshops in academic societies. However, for qualified RTMP, 3.0% of institutions had their own educational systems, only 8.9% of the institutions provided on-the-job training, and 83% encouraged participation in academic conferences and workshops. Less than 1% of the facilities offered salary increases for certification, whereas 8.2% offered consideration for occupational promotion. Regarding the educational environment, JASTRO-accredited hospitals were better than general hospitals. Few institutions have their own educational systems for qualified and non-qualified RTMP, but they encourage them to attend educational seminars and conferences. It is desirable to provide systematic education and training by academic and professional organizations to maintain the skills of individuals.

This scoping review provides overview on the historical and major developments, current status, quantitative magnetic resonance (MR) studies and the role of medical physics bodies in MR imaging in Africa. The study analyzed MRI availability in 32 (59 %) of the 54 African countries. South Africa and Egypt have the most dominant MR systems. Number of MR systems in the 4 northern countries (Egypt, Morocco, Algeria and Libya) alone constitute 53 % of the total number of machines in the studied countries. Less than one-third of the countries have 1 MR system serving less than a million population. Libya recorded the most MR systems per million population. The studied countries altogether have an average of 1 machine per million population. The private sector far dominates number of installed MR systems across the region, making up two-thirds of the distribution. A major challenge was revealed where less than 3 % of Medical Physicists in the studied countries are engaged in MRI facilities. Review of MRI published studies in the last 5 years indicates dominance of literature on brain studies and most of such published works coming from Nigeria. Only 7 out of 27 published studies reviewed were quantitative. The African region has no dedicated MRI physics societies; however, the regional medical physics body and national associations have big roles to play in developing MRI through education, research, training and leveraging on awareness creation. Thisreview is the first of such wide scale study on MRI availability and quantitative studies in the African region.

The questionnaire survey was conducted in 2020 to investigate the working conditions of qualified medical physicists in Japan. We developed a web-based system for administering the questionnaire and surveyed 1,228 qualified medical physicists. The number of received responses was 405. We summarized the results of the survey by job category. The obtained results showed that most of the people working as certified medical physicists met the following conditions: (1) position of healthcare occupation, (2) direct supervisor is a medical doctor or a medical physicist, (3) licensed or passed an examination for a Class I Radiation Protection Supervisor, (4) without the license of professional radiotherapy technologist, (5) master\'s or doctor\'s degree, (6) being assigned to the section that is different from the radiological technologist section. The average annual salary was approximately 600,000 yen higher for those employed as medical physicists than for those employed as radiotherapy technologists. The percentage of work performed by a certified medical physicist in radiation therapy greatly varies depending on whether the physicist is dedicated to treatment planning and equipment quality control. Alternatively, the proportion of the true duties of medical physicists in charge of radiation therapy, as considered by qualified medical physicists in radiation therapy, was the same regardless of whether they were working full-time or not. The results of this survey updated the working status of certified medical physicists in Japan. We will continue to conduct the survey periodically and update the information to contribute to the improvement of the working conditions of medical physicists and policy recommendations.

Magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) is a completely non-invasive technology that has been approved by FDA to treat several diseases. This report, prepared by the American Association of Physicist in Medicine (AAPM) Task Group 241, provides background on MRgFUS technology with a focus on clinical body MRgFUS systems. The report addresses the issues of interest to the medical physics community, specific to the body MRgFUS system configuration, and provides recommendations on how to successfully implement and maintain a clinical MRgFUS program. The following sections describe the key features of typical MRgFUS systems and clinical workflow and provide key points and best practices for the medical physicist. Commonly used terms, metrics and physics are defined and sources of uncertainty that affect MRgFUS procedures are described. Finally, safety and quality assurance procedures are explained, the recommended role of the medical physicist in MRgFUS procedures is described, and regulatory requirements for planning clinical trials are detailed. Although this report is limited in scope to clinical body MRgFUS systems that are approved or currently undergoing clinical trials in the United States, much of the material presented is also applicable to systems designed for other applications.

Over the last two decades, rapid technological advances have dramatically changed radiation delivery to children with cancer, enabling improved normal-tissue sparing. This article describes recent advances in photon and proton therapy technologies, image-guided patient positioning, motion management, and adaptive therapy that are relevant to pediatric cancer patients. For medical physicists who are at the forefront of realizing the promise of technology, challenges remain with respect to ensuring patient safety as new technologies are implemented with increasing treatment complexity. The contributions of medical physicists to meeting these challenges in daily practice, in the conduct of clinical trials, and in pediatric oncology cooperative groups are highlighted. Representing the perspective of the physics committees of the Children\'s Oncology Group (COG) and the European Society for Paediatric Oncology (SIOP Europe), this paper provides recommendations regarding the safe delivery of pediatric radiotherapy. Emerging innovations are highlighted to encourage pediatric applications with a view to maximizing the therapeutic ratio.

OBJECTIVE: To provide a guideline curriculum related to Artificial Intelligence (AI), for the education and training of European Medical Physicists (MPs).
METHODS: The proposed curriculum consists of two levels: Basic (introducing MPs to the pillars of knowledge, development and applications of AI, in the context of medical imaging and radiation therapy) and Advanced. Both are common to the subspecialties (diagnostic and interventional radiology, nuclear medicine, and radiation oncology). The learning outcomes of the training are presented as knowledge, skills and competences (KSC approach).
RESULTS: For the Basic section, KSCs were stratified in four subsections: (1) Medical imaging analysis and AI Basics; (2) Implementation of AI applications in clinical practice; (3) Big data and enterprise imaging, and (4) Quality, Regulatory and Ethical Issues of AI processes. For the Advanced section instead, a common block was proposed to be further elaborated by each subspecialty core curriculum. The learning outcomes were also translated into a syllabus of a more traditional format, including practical applications.
CONCLUSIONS: This AI curriculum is the first attempt to create a guideline expanding the current educational framework for Medical Physicists in Europe. It should be considered as a document to top the sub-specialties\' curriculums and adapted by national training and regulatory bodies. The proposed educational program can be implemented via the European School of Medical Physics Expert (ESMPE) course modules and - to some extent - also by the national competent EFOMP organizations, to reach widely the medical physicist community in Europe.

Cancer care can be taxing. Alexithymia, a personality construct characterized by difficulties in identifying and describing feeling and emotions, an externally-oriented thinking style and scarcity of imagination and fantasy, is significantly correlated with higher levels of both secondary traumatic stress (STS) and burnout and lower levels of compassion satisfaction in medical professionals in radiation oncology. In this study, we aimed to assess the difference in professional quality of life (QoL) and the association with alexithymia in this multidisciplinary field depending on the specific profession (radiation/clinical oncologist, RO; medical physicist, MP; radiation therapist, RTT).
The study was conducted via an online questionnaire, receiving 1500 submissions between May and October 2018. Alexithymia was assessed via the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) and professional QoL was evaluated using the Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQoL) version 5. Comparisons between the RO, RTT, and MP groups were performed by ANOVA or MANOVA, followed by Bonferroni corrected ANOVAs for continuous variables, and Pearson\'s chi-square test for categorical variables. The effect size was determined by calculating partial eta-squared (η2).
Profession had a moderator role on the correlation between alexithymia and STS, with RO being at a higher risk than MP and RTT. Further, the results of this study demonstrate the relevant point prevalence of decreased well-being at work even for professional categories such as MP despite the more technical profile and reduced interaction with patients.
This study demonstrates the importance of alexithymia as a factor contributing to decreased professional QoL amongst radiation oncology professionals. Alexithymic ROs are impacted to a higher extent compared to MPs and RTTs by the indirect exposure to patients suffering. It is worth addressing these observations in professional education, aiming to improve QoL for healthcare personnel.

Today, patient management generally requires a multidisciplinary approach. However, due to the growing knowledge base and increasing complexity of Medicine, clinical practice has become even more specialised. Radiation oncology is not immune to this trend towards subspecialisation, which is particularly evident in ablative radiotherapy techniques that require high dose fractions, such as stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), and stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT). The aim of the present report is to establish the position of the Spanish Society of Radiation Oncology (SEOR), in collaboration with the Spanish Society of Medical Physics (SEFM), with regard to the roles and responsibilities of healthcare professionals involved in performing SRS and SBRT. The need for this white paper is motivated due to the recent changes in Spanish Legislation (Royal Decree [RD] 601/2019, October 18, 2019) governing the use and optimization of radiotherapy and radiological protection for medical exposure to ionizing radiation (article 11, points 4 and 5) [1 ], which states: \"In radiotherapy treatment units, the specialist in Radiation Oncology will be responsible for determining the correct treatment indication, selecting target volumes, determining the clinical radiation parameters for each volume, directing and supervising treatment, preparing the final clinical report, reporting treatment outcomes, and monitoring the patient\'s clinical course.\" Consequently, the SEOR and SEFM have jointly prepared the present document to establish the roles and responsibilities for the specialists-radiation oncologists (RO), medical physicists (MP), and related staff -involved in treatments with ionizing radiation. We believe that it is important to clearly establish the responsibilities of each professional group and to clearly establish the professional competencies at each stage of the radiotherapy process.