TY - JOUR
T1 - Strengthening education and training programmes for medical physics in Asia and the Pacific
T2 - the IAEA non-agreement technical cooperation (TC) regional RAS6088 project
AU - Jamal, Noriah
AU - Krisanachinda, Anchali
AU - Tsapaki, Virginia
AU - Islam, Md Rafiqul
AU - Pawiro, Supriyanto
AU - Al Omari, Muhammad
AU - Yeong, Chai Hong
AU - Myint, Thinn Thinn
AU - Kakakhel, Muhammad Basim
AU - Kharita, Mohammad Hassan
AU - Lee, Cheow Lei James
AU - Ismail, Anas
AU - Nguyen, Thanh Binh
AU - Knoll, Peter
AU - Ciraj-Bjelac, Olivera
AU - Malek, Massoud
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© Australasian College of Physical Scientists and Engineers in Medicine 2024.
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - This article documents the work conducted in implementing the IAEA non-agreement TC regional RAS6088 project “Strengthening Education and Training Programmes for Medical Physics”. Necessary information on the project was collected from the project counterparts via emails for a period of one month, starting from 21st September 2023, and verified at the Final Regional Coordination Meeting in Bangkok, Thailand from 30th October 2023 to 3rd November 2023. Sixty-three participants were trained in 5 Regional Training Courses (RTCs), with 48%, 32% and 20% in radiation therapy, diagnostic radiology, and nuclear medicine, respectively. One RTC was successfully organised to introduce molecular biology as an academic module to participants. Three participating Member States, namely United Arab Emirates (UAE), Nepal and Afghanistan have initiated processes to start the postgraduate master medical physics education programmes by coursework, adopting the IAEA TCS56 Guidelines. UAE has succeeded in completing the process while Nepal and Afghanistan have yet to initiate the programme. The postgraduate master medical physics programmes by coursework were strengthened in Indonesia, Jordan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Syria, and Thailand, along with the national registration of medical physicists. In particular, Thailand has revised 6 postgraduate master medical physics programmes by coursework during the tenure of this project. Home Based Assignment and RTCs have resulted in two publications. In conclusion, the RAS6088 project was found to have achieved its planned outcomes despite challenges faced due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is proposed that a follow up project be implemented to increase the number of Member States who are better prepared to improve medical physics education and training in the region.
AB - This article documents the work conducted in implementing the IAEA non-agreement TC regional RAS6088 project “Strengthening Education and Training Programmes for Medical Physics”. Necessary information on the project was collected from the project counterparts via emails for a period of one month, starting from 21st September 2023, and verified at the Final Regional Coordination Meeting in Bangkok, Thailand from 30th October 2023 to 3rd November 2023. Sixty-three participants were trained in 5 Regional Training Courses (RTCs), with 48%, 32% and 20% in radiation therapy, diagnostic radiology, and nuclear medicine, respectively. One RTC was successfully organised to introduce molecular biology as an academic module to participants. Three participating Member States, namely United Arab Emirates (UAE), Nepal and Afghanistan have initiated processes to start the postgraduate master medical physics education programmes by coursework, adopting the IAEA TCS56 Guidelines. UAE has succeeded in completing the process while Nepal and Afghanistan have yet to initiate the programme. The postgraduate master medical physics programmes by coursework were strengthened in Indonesia, Jordan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Syria, and Thailand, along with the national registration of medical physicists. In particular, Thailand has revised 6 postgraduate master medical physics programmes by coursework during the tenure of this project. Home Based Assignment and RTCs have resulted in two publications. In conclusion, the RAS6088 project was found to have achieved its planned outcomes despite challenges faced due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is proposed that a follow up project be implemented to increase the number of Member States who are better prepared to improve medical physics education and training in the region.
KW - Education and training
KW - IAEA
KW - Medical physics
KW - Non-agreement TC RAS6088 project
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85194890624&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s13246-024-01437-6
DO - 10.1007/s13246-024-01437-6
M3 - Article
C2 - 38807011
AN - SCOPUS:85194890624
SN - 2662-4729
VL - 47
SP - 1167
EP - 1176
JO - Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine
JF - Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine
IS - 3
ER -