Education and Training: Medical Physicists and Engineers (invited paper)

The primary purpose of this paper is to discuss the education and training needs and practice for physicists working in medical X ray imaging. There is also brief reference to similarities and differences in the training of engineers. First the role and responsibilities of clinical scientists in health care is reviewed in very general terms and then the best way to train for this role in medical physics, specifically as applied to diagnostic radiology, is considered. This part of the presentation draws heavily on the work of the European Federation of Organisations of Medical Physics. The second part of the paper reviews the new requirements and opportunities presented to radiation physicists by the recent Medical Exposures Directive (97/43). Ways in which physicists should be responding to these challenges, especially by harmonisation of standards through national registration schemes and continuing professional development are considered. (author)