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Medical Physics 30 Physics For Every Patient

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89 views

Medical Physics 30 Physics For Every Patient

phsics

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مؤيد العلي
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Received: 1 October 2018 | Revised: 1 October 2018 | Accepted: 2 October 2018

DOI: 10.1002/acm2.12484

EDITORIAL

Medical Physics 3.0, physics for every patient


This issue, the JACMP presents a Guest Editorial authored by Ehsan 2. Inconsistency: Current practice, while great in many respects, is
Samei on the planned aspirations of the future of medical physics. I uneven across physics practices. Many places practice at the low-
invite everyone to consider the opinion below and the reference est common denominator. Case in point, we don't apply the same
publication on which it is based — Michael Mills. QC rigor across the clinical practice as we do for clinical trials. Is
Physics has done much in medicine. For one, it has been instru- quality and safety for clinical practice any less important than
mental in the medical use of radiation, both ionizing and nonioniz- those for clinical trials? Physicists have the ability and skill to
ing. And in doing so, it has shaped the modern practice of make their contributions more consistently excellent everywhere.
diagnostic and therapeutic medicine. Over decades since the dis- But to do so, we need a stronger peer expectation, an explicit
covery of X‐rays, physics and physics principles have been steadily regulatory mandate, better tools, and models of effective prac-
applied for continued advancement of technologies related to radi- tice. We have an opportunity to improve upon these needs
ation medicine. Physics has also been present clinically and profes- through MP3.0.
sionally in the use of radiation in medicine, where physicists play 3. Relevance: We undertake many physics procedures. Some are
key roles in commissioning, inspecting, and optimizing the use of not as relevant to medical care as others. For many we have a
the technology. As the discipline has gradually specialized, its clini- difficult task to relate physics results to clinical performance. In
cal presence has taken narrowly defined territories. This territorial the era of value-based care, the value of an undertaking that
definition, while professionally important, has created a constraint takes effort and expense needs to be justified. We have an
which is out of step with challenging needs that clinical medicine is opportunity to better delineate the relevance of physics in value-
facing, needs such as precision, personalization, and value‐based based care through MP3.0.
care that can be tackled by physics. As the profession is evolving, 4. Opportunity: Medical physics has definitely done much and con-
it is crucial to calibrate this evolution with the broader needs of tinue to do so in enabling and advancing radiation medicine. But
medicine. medical physics is not limited to radiation physics; physics is
The realities noted above necessitate a new brand of medical rather present in all aspects of health, healthcare, and associated
physics with increased focus on the precision and personalization of technologies. Yet physicists are rarely present outsides of the
patient care. The focus should include areas within and beyond radi- departments of radiation oncology and radiology. We have an
ation medicine. This new horizon calls for new skills for medical opportunity to improve this through MP3.0.
physicists to be able to practice with strong competence and confi-
dence toward clinical impact. The AAPM initiated the Medical Phy- How is Medical Physics 3.0 bringing about what is needed? The
sics 3.0 (MP3.0) as an effort to motivate this evolution of the ongoing activities of the initiative are orchestrated through Units,
profession. MP3.0 is thus defined as a new inspiration for physics each of which is focused on fostering one of the seven “smart” aspi-
serving every patient. The characteristics of this movement were rations of MP3.0. The term smart is used to invoke the character of
1
recently clarified in an article in Medical Physics that I encourage intentionality, intelligence, and effectiveness in targeting the objec-
every medical physicist to read and reflect upon. tives of MP3.0. I encourage you to consider MP3.0 as an opportu-
You may ask, do we really need a new brand? Aren't we already nity to make medical physics and medical physicists as relevant and
impacting patient care? Why do we need Medical Physics 3.0? To as essential as they can be to healthcare. The primary reason to do
these questions, I just offer a few answers in the limited space of an so is not self‐serving, rather it is serving and advancing human health
editorial. through intentionally comprehensive, integrated, and smart scholar-
ship and practice.
1. Publicity: Many good things that we do already need to be
better publicized. For example, a typical patient being benefited
by our work should know what a medical physicist does, so ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
do administrators who are resourcing healthcare. That is not
We thank Associate Editors‐in‐Chief Timothy Solberg and Per Hal-
the case today. We have an opportunity to improve this
vorsen for their valuable and perceptive comments.
through MP3.0.

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This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is properly cited.
© 2018 The Authors. Journal of Applied Clinical Medical Physics published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of American Association of Physicists in Medicine.

J Appl Clin Med Phys 2018; xx:x: 1–2 wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jacmp | 1


2 | EDITORIAL

Ehsan Samei1 REFERENCE


Michael D. Mills2
1 1. Samei E, Pawlicki T, Bourland D, et al. Redefining and reinvigorating
Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
the role of physics in clinical medicine: a Report from the AAPM
2
Radiation Oncology, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, USA Medical Physics 3.0 Ad Hoc committee. Med Phys. 2018;45:e783–
e789.
E-mail: [email protected]

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