Medical Physicist Career Description
Medical physicists are concerned with the application of physics in medicine to enhance the health care of the community.
What am I going to do in this occupation?
Medical physicists are primarily concerned with the medical application of physics to assist other medical personnel in both the diagnosis and treatment of patients. Medical physicists seldom have direct contact with patients but rather help with the development of techniques, quality management and training of personnel. The most important application of medical physics are in the following medical disciplines:
Medical physics for radiotherapy
In radiotherapy, ionising radiation such as X-rays, gamma rays, high energy electrons and neutrons are applied in treating malignant (cancer) and sometimes benign conditions. Medical physicists are responsible for planning the radiation treatment of the patient and ensuring that the prescribed dose is accurately delivered. They also take responsibility for the accuracy of each treatment plan.
Medical physics for nuclear medicine
Radionuclides are used in nuclear medicine to diagnose diseases. The distribution and concentration of these radio-active compounds can be determined using a scintillation camera. This allows the study of the anatomy and/ or physiological functioning of internal organs. Medical physicists ensure that a high standard is attained by the establishment of quality management programs on equipment and radiopharmaseuticals. They also assist with quantitative imaging techniques.
Medical physics for radiology
A number of imaging techniques are used in diagnostic radiology. These include conventional X-ray, computed tomography, ultra sound and magnetic resonance imaging. All of these techniques have basic physics foundations and as such the medical physicist is involved. Proper adjustments of equipment ensures that optimal image quality is achieved and more accurate diagnosis will follow.
Image manipulation techniques form an integral part of medical physics.
Radiation protection
Excessive and injudicious use of radiation is dangerous to man. For this reason strict legislation controls the use of radiation. Medical physicists take responsibility in the hospital for all sources of potentially harmful radiation and ensure that patients, members of the public and radiation workers are protected from unnecessary exposure.
Research and teaching
Most medical physicists are associated with academic centres where they play an important role" as part of medical research teams. Medical physicists can be found helping in basic research, doing mathematical modelling, developing new techniques as well as equipment and even assisting in clinical trails. Teaching usually is an integral part of the medical physicist's responsibilities. Lectures in physics are given to virtually all medical and para-medical students.
Emerging fields
While most medical physicists are involved in one or more of the above fields there are a number of more exotic possibilities. The rapid development of technology impacts greatly on medical services. Medical physicists are well positioned to grasp the fundamentals and help with the implementation. Health informatics is an example where the proliferation of information technology impacted on the way in which the health professionals operate. Medical physicists took to this new field with enthusiasm.
Requirements
What kind of personality do I need? Medical physicists must be able to accept responsibility and work independently. The ability to judge accurately, to act quickly and decisively under stress is important. Prospective medical physicists must enjoy working with computers and must have an inquiring mind. Although the work is mostly technical in nature prospective medical physicists should have interpersonal skills.
Where can I work?
Most medical physicists are employed by provincial and private hospitals, universities, medical companies and specialist physicians.
Can I work for myself in this occupation?
Medical physicists can open a private practice.
|
