The need for dedicated time for medical physicists practice quality improvement efforts in radiation oncology department: A commentary

Survey on the interest and commitment of AIFM members to scientific activities (SicAS) - The initiative of the FutuRuS working group

PURPOSE

The "FutuRuS" working group of the Italian Association of Medical Physics and Health Physics (AIFM) designed a survey (SicAS) to get feedback from its members regarding their interests and their experience in taking part in scientific activities and events, with the objective of focusing future efforts of the AIFM towards increasing the scientific activity of the medical physics expert (MPE).

METHODS

SicAS was sent out in March 2022 to all AIFM members by newsletter and official communication. SicAS was structured into three sections: personal information and institution of affiliation information, involvement in scientific activities, interest in and commitment to scientific activities. Responses were collected in a fully anonymised mode from the Google Forms platform and analysed with descriptive statistics.

RESULTS

Out of 1289 members (active at the end of 2021), 467 responded to the Survey (response rate of 36%). The Survey results highlighted that AIFM members ranked the involvement of the MPE in scientific activities as highly relevant to the profession. However, 34.7% indicated devoting less than 10% of their working time to scientific activities. 67.5% of the respondents were dissatisfied with the time spent on scientific activities. The primary barrier was the lack of time (77%), followed by a lack of mentoring (32%).

CONCLUSIONS

SicAS highlighted the need for AIFM initiatives to support members' scientific activities. National societies should help develop and support networks between members, create links among universities, hospitals, research institutions and industries, and provide guidelines and learning platforms for enhancing the MPEs' involvement in scientific activities.

Webinar and survey on quality management principles within the Australian and New Zealand ACPSEM Workforce

Healthcare relies upon the accurate and safe delivery of patient care. This is only achievable when systems are developed to ensure high quality, robust outcomes, for instance quality management systems. The concept of quality management can take on a different meaning depending on the context in which it is found. To add complication, the amount of education required for quality management will vary depending on one's exposure to the implementation of quality systems. In part to address these issues, the Australasian College of Physical Scientists and Engineers in Medicine (ACPSEM) Queensland Branch held a quality management webinar for members and non-members across Australia and New Zealand. The purpose of the webinar was to educate and facilitate discussion regarding the application of quality management principles for the ACPSEM profession. In conjunction, a pre- and post-webinar survey was conducted to gain an insight into existing knowledge and attitudes within the professions governed by the ACPSEM and students undertaking related studies. This paper authored by the webinar speakers reintroduces the quality management principles that were discussed in webinar, exemplifies the importance of quality management skills within the ACPSEM professions and presents the results of the surveys, promoting the need for more educational resources on quality management tools.