Recommendations on staffing levels in medical physics
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37004/sefm/2026.27.1.003Keywords:
Medical Physics, human resources, portfolio data, toolAbstract
Introduction. In 2022, the Human Resources in Radiophysics task group was created with the objective of developing a simple and updatable tool that would be a reference for Radiophysics and Radiation Protection Services to estimate professional needs.
Material and methods. In the second half of 2022, a literature review was conducted, and a method was established to obtain the necessary number of professionals based on the tasks and assigned time. To this end, a survey, in spreadsheet format, was conducted among reference centres in different areas (Radiotherapy, Radiodiagnosis, Nuclear Medicine, Radiation Protection, Teaching, and Research). A joint analysis of the survey results, recommendations and the experience of the task group members was carried out to develop a consensus recommendation.
Results. By July 2023, 6 surveys were received in the area of Radiotherapy, 9 in Radiodiagnosis, 10 in Nuclear Medicine, and 7 in Radiation Protection, Research, and Teaching. The times obtained for each of the surveyed tasks were analyzed, and a spreadsheet was created to easily calculate the number of professionals needed to complete them. The spreadsheet was compared against previous
recommendations.
Conclusions. A simple and updatable tool has been developed that, based on service portfolio data, assesses the number of professionals needed to fulfill its objectives.
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