Global status of medical physics human resource - The IOMP survey report

Purpose: Realizing the need for periodic surveys about global medical physics human resource, the International Organization for Medical Physics (IOMP) performed a third survey following the previous two (2015 and 2018). The objective was to collect information about the current numbers of medical physicists (MPs) in individual countries, about their MP training, and accreditation pathways.Methods: The survey was designed using Google Forms. Forms were distributed to national MP associations around the world. The data was collected during May-Nov 2022. MS Excel and SPSS software were used to perform descriptive statistics.Results: 64 valid responses were received covering all continents. The largest numbers of MPs are in high income countries of Europe, Australia and North America, while the lowest numbers of MPs are seen in middle and low-income countries of Asia, Latin America and Africa. Among the respondents, 73% reported MP shortages in their countries. 69% reported the existence of an official MP training program which comprises university courses and in-service training. Furthermore, 85% of the respondents indicated the availability of MP university courses, primarily at the Master's degree level. Participation in research was between 10 and 30% of allocated work time for 42% and below 10% for 33% respondents.Conclusions: There are new findings on number of MPs per million population in different countries, with some expressing adequacy in the total number of MPs, but the data breakdown indicates a shortage in diagnostic X-ray physicists. Future surveys should also investigate in more detail data on outsourcing, and involvement in research.

Automated summary

According to a survey conducted by the International Organization for Medical Physics (IOMP), there is an imbalance in the distribution of medical physicists worldwide, with a higher number in high-income countries and a lower number in middle and low-income countries. The survey also revealed a shortage of medical physicists in many countries. Moreover, most countries have official training programs for medical physicists and offer university courses in medical physics.