Medical physics aspects of cancer care in the Asia Pacific region: 2014 survey results.
It was the aim of this work to assess and track the workload, working conditions and professional recognition of radiation oncology medical physicists (ROMPs) in the Asia Pacific region over time. In this third survey since 2008, a structured questionnaire was mailed in 2014 to 22 senior medical physicists representing 23 countries. As in previous surveys the questionnaire covered seven themes: 1 education, training and professional certification, 2 staffing, 3 typical tasks, 4 professional organisations, 5 resources, 6 research and teaching, and 7 job satisfaction. The response rate of 100% is a result of performing a survey through a network, which allows easy follow-up. The replies cover 4841 ROMPs in 23 countries. Compared to 2008, the number of medical physicists in many countries has doubled. However, the number of experienced ROMPs compared to the overall workforce is still small, especially in low and middle income countries. The increase in staff is matched by a similar increase in the number of treatment units over the years. Furthermore, the number of countries using complex techniques (IMRT, IGRT) or installing high end equipment (tomotherapy, robotic linear accelerators) is increasing. Overall, ROMPs still feel generally overworked and the professional recognition, while varying widely, appears to be improving only slightly. Radiation oncology medical physics practice has not changed significantly over the last 6 years in the Asia Pacific Region even if the number of physicists and the number and complexity of treatment techniques and technologies have increased dramatically.
Physical Sciences, Peter MacCallum Cancer Cancer Institute, Locked Bag 1, A'Beckett St, Melbourne, 8006, Australia. Tomas.Kron@petermac.org.|RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia. Tomas.Kron@petermac.org.
Tomas
T
Kron
Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, Gono Bishwabidyalay (University), Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
H A
HA
Azhari
Radiation Safety and Quality Unit, Department of Scientific Services, Ministry of Health, Muara, Brunei Darussalam.
E O
EO
Voon
Department of Clinical Oncology, Prince of Wales Hospital, Hong Kong, China SAR.
K Y
KY
Cheung
Department of Radiation Oncology, Christian Medical College, Vellore, India.
P
P
Ravindran
Physics Department, University of Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia.
D
D
Soejoko
Professor Emeritus, Osaka University, Onoharahigashi 6-35-7, Minoh, Japan.
K
K
Inamura
Samsung Medical Centre, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Y
Y
Han
Clinical Oncology Unit, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
N M
NM
Ung
Radiotherapy Department, National Cancer Centre, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
Bolortuya
B
TsedenIsh
Ministry of Health, Yangoon, Myanmar.
U M
UM
Win
Department of Radiotherapy, Ghent University Hospital, De Pintelaan 185, Ghent, Belgium.
R
R
Srivastava
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.
S
S
Marsh
Department of Radiation Oncology, Atomic Energy Medical Centre, Karachi, Pakistan.
S
S
Farrukh
Department of Radiotherapy, Jose R. Reyes Memorial Medical Center, Manila, Philippines.
L
L
Rodriguez
Department of Radiation Oncology, Cancer Institute (Hospital), Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, China.
Men
M
Kuo
Department of Radiation Oncology, National University Cancer Institute, Singapore, Singapore.
S
S
Baggarley
Division of Medical Physics, Teaching Hospital Karapitiya, Galle, Sri Lanka.
A H
AH
DilipKumara
Department of Medical Imaging and Radiological Sciences, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
C C
CC
Lee
Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand.
A
A
Krisanachinda
K Hospital, National Cancer Institute, Hanoi, Vietnam.
X C
XC
Nguyen
Department of Biomedical Imaging, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.|Medical Physics Unit, University of Malaya Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
K H
KH
Ng
D001208:Asia; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D009683:Nuclear Medicine / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D018787:Radiation Oncology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016526:Workload
Asia Pacific region; Radiation oncology medical physics; Resources; Work practice; Workload