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EFOMP PROJECT ‘BIOMEDICAL

PHYSICS EDUCATION FOR THE

MEDICAL / HEALTHCARE

PROFESSIONS’

AN UPDATE FOR MEDPHYS2010

Violeta KarenauskaitePhysics Faculty, Vilnius University

Carmel J. CaruanaEFOMP Chairperson, Education and Training Committee

Biomedical Physics, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Malta

www.efomp.org14-16 October, 2010, Kaunas, Lithuania

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EFOMP policy statements describing the role of the

medical physicist include the responsibility of teaching

medical & healthcare professionals (in both universities

and hospitals).

In 2005, the EFOMP council set up a Special Interest

Group (SIG) to develop this role.

This presentation:

Introduces the SIG

Explains the background to the project

Summarises the research achievements of the SIG

Indicates future research directions

Introduction

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SIG ‘Biomedical Physics Education

for the Healthcare Professions’ C.J. Caruana, SIG Chair, University of Malta

M. Wasilewska-Radwanska, AGH University of Science and Technology, Krakow, Poland

A. Aurengo, Faculty of Medicine, University Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France

P.P. Dendy, Formerly, Faculty of Chemistry and Physics and Faculty of Medicine, Cambridge University, Cambridge, England

V. Karenauskaite, Faculty of Physics, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania

M.R. Malisan, University Hospital, University of Udine, Udine, Italy

J.H. Meijer, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, Netherlands

D. Mihov, Department of Medical Physics and Biophysics, Medical University of Sofia, Bulgaria

V. Mornstein, Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic

E. Rokita, Faculty of Medicine, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland

E. Vano, Faculty of Medicine, Complutense University, Madrid, Spain

M. Weckstrom, Department of Physical Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Oulu, Finland

M. Wucherer, Klinikum Nuremberg, Nuremberg, Germany

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Background

Very little educational research has been carried out

by biomedical physicists regarding their role in the

education of medical & healthcare professionals

No international coordination regarding curricula

Choice of curriculum content by physicists subjective

Healthcare professions often don’t know what they want

except that their students ‘need some physics’

The Bologna process requires all academics to look with

a critical eye at their curricula to ensure that they agree

with the present and future learning needs of their

students.

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Consequences

Learning objectives that may not be useful to theeveryday practice of the medical & healthcareprofessions leading to a low level of satisfaction andmotivation on the part of the students.

No focus or harmonisation. Curricular content variestremendously across Europe even for a singleprofession e.g., for medical students we find generalphysics, medical devices, physical biochemistry,biomolecular and cellular biophysics, physiologicalphysics, the effects of physical agents on the humanorganism, safety.

Consequently the biomedical physics educator is notseen by the medical & healthcare professions to have aclear, valuable and easily identifiable role.

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Lit. Review: Main Conclusions

Role has never been studied in a systematic way

Role has been limited to the teaching of the following

professions only: physicians, dental surgeons,

radiographers (diagnostic & therapy), some post-

graduate medical specialisations

No internationally agreed mission statement which

would provide focus and contribute towards a

harmonised approach

No curriculum development model has been found to

help role-holders develop their curricula

C.J. Caruana, M. Wasilewska-Radwanska, A. Aurengo, P.P. Dendy, V. Karenauskaite, M.R. Malisan,

J.H. Meijer, V. Mornstein, E. Rokita, E. Vano, M. Wucherer. The role of the biomedical physicist in the

education of the healthcare professions: An EFOMP project. Physica Medica - EJMP, 2009;25(3),133-

140.

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Initial Research Objectives

Carry out a Europe-wide SWOT audit for the role

Produce a strategic role development model

(including an updated mission statement)

Produce a curriculum development model which

would be structured enough for systematic

curriculum development yet generic enough to

be applicable to all medical & healthcare

professions and easily modifiable to national and

local needs

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SWOT Audit : Methodology

Strengths and Weaknesses

Qualitative pan-European survey

120 case studies of Medical / Dental /

Pharmacy / Healthcare faculties in Europe

In-depth document analysis of webpages

and curricula

Opportunities and Threats: systematic

survey of the medical and healthcare

educational journals

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SWOT Themes (1)

Strengths (5) : S1) Highly qualified academics S2) Strongmedical device competences S3) Strong competencesregarding safety with regard to physical agents S4) StrongInformation and Communication Technology competencesS5) Strong research competences

Weaknesses (11): W1) Absence of a clear mission W2)Poorly determined scope W3) Absence of internationalnetworking and curricular harmonization W4) Absence of aunique internationally agreed title for the discipline W5) Lowlevel of pedagogical expertise, pedagogical materials andeducational research W6) Narrow range of client groupsW7) Role overlaps W8) Absent departments W9) Lowmarketing competences W10) Conflict between the self-perceived role and the role expectations of the healthcareprofessions W11) Insufficient awareness of the ethical andhumanistic aspects of healthcare

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SWOT Themes (2) Opportunities (10): O1) The European Higher Education

Area and recognition of professional qualifications O2) TheEuropean Research Area O3) EC directives O4) Theescalating cost of health care and health technologyassessment O5) Human resource requirements in the HCPsector O6) Increased public awareness of quality and safetystandards in healthcare O7) The rise of the new healthcareprofessions O8) Increased regulation of the healthcareprofessions O9) Increased awareness of occupational safetyissues O10) The explosion in the number and sophisticationof biomedical devices

Threats (5): T1) The escalating cost of higher education T2)Low incentives for biomedical physicists to join academiaT3) Resistance to multi-disciplinarity in HCP education T4)Insufficient curriculum time T5) The perception of physics asa difficult subjectC.J. Caruana, M. Wasilewska-Radwanska, A. Aurengo, P.P. Dendy, V. Karenauskaite, M.R. Malisan, J.H.

Meijer, D. Mihov, V. Mornstein, E. Rokita, E. Vano, M. Weckstrom, M. Wucherer. A comprehensive

SWOT audit of the role of the biomedical physicist in the education of healthcare professionals in

Europe, Physica Medica - EJMP, 2010;26(2),98-110.

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SWOT Analysis: Conclusions The biomedical physicist’s role in the education of the

healthcare professions is blessed with many opportunities -indeed the number of opportunities is quite extraordinary and ifbiomedical physicists rise to the challenge a good future for the roleis achievable.

The main opportunities are: the many EC directives, theincreasing number and sophistication of biomedical devices used bythe healthcare professions, the need for healthcare technologyassessment, the ever increasing need for technically trained humanresources, importance of quality and patient safety issues andincreased awareness of occupational safety.

However, in the past the role has been generally weakened insome countries. In the case of university based physicists theeducator role has not been given its due importance owing toover-emphasis on the scientific research role. In the case ofclinically based physicists the educational role is consideredsubsidiary to the clinical service role or is not included in the remit ofthe physicist.

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Role Development Model -

Strategic Planning

Portfolio analysis - identification of core competences

Benchmarking themes

Identification of key environmental factors & opportunities

Mission statement

Vision statement

Gap analysis: gap between vision and the present state of

the role

Strategies to bridge the gap

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Portfolio Analysis – Core Competence

“The ability to identify and transfer to medical

and healthcare students the technical-

scientific knowledge/skills/competences

underpinning the clinically-effective,

evidence-based, safe, and economical use

of biomedical devices in healthcare practice

and experimental medicine” .

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Benchmarking Themes The formulation and dissemination of a clear updated

mission statement. Unlike other biomedical sciences

(anatomy, physiology etc) which have well-defined

missions biomedical physics lacks a definite focus (W1).

Internationally harmonized and research based

curriculum development is sorely lacking (W3, W5).

The establishment of education as a valid and

respected area of research within the biomedical

physics community. Other disciplines have whole

journals dedicated to education e.g., Advances in

Physiology Education, Pathology Education,

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education,

Anatomical Sciences Education (W5).

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Key Environmental Factors /

Opportunities

The emphasis on quality, safety and economic issues in

healthcare (O3, O4, O6, O9),

The rapid expansion in number and sophistication of

medical devices (O2, O4, O10),

Human resource development particularly when involving

much use of medical devices (O5, O7, O8),

Major challenges arising from the medical & healthcare

professional educational environment: the move towards

learning outcomes and practice oriented curricula,

integrated curricula, the problem-based-learning

approach to curricular delivery, and the emphasis on

inter-professional learning and ethics (W5, W11)

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Mission Statement

“We will make a key contribution to quality healthcare throughknowledge transfer activities concerning the technical-scientificknowledge/skills/competences supporting the clinically-effective,evidence-based, safe (physical agents linked to devices) andeconomical use of biomedical devices. Our efforts will be guided byan appreciation of the value of all healthcare professions andunderpinned by research-based curriculum development”‚

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ratu

re Our major mission is to act as a ‘knowledge

transfer bridge’ between biomedical device

providers / device research literature and the

medical & healthcare professions

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Vision Statement

“The biomedical physicist will be recognized bythe educational leaders of all medical &healthcare professions across Europe as theeducator of first call with respect to the technical-scientific knowledge/skills/competencesunderpinning the clinically-effective, evidence-based, safe (physical agents) and economicaluse of biomedical devices and be perceived asproviding a practice-oriented, competence-based, well-integrated, research-based,internationally harmonized, ethically oriented,contribution to the education of medical &healthcare students”.

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Gap Analysis

Gap 1: The physics educator is at present only

recognized by the leaders of a few medical & healthcare

professions as the educator of first call with respect to

the technical-scientific knowledge/skills/competences

underpinning the clinically-effective, evidence-based,

safe (physical agents) and economical use of

biomedical devices and the level of recognition varies

widely across Europe (W2, W4, W6, W7, W9, W10).

Gap 2: International harmonization of curricular content

is practically non-existent whilst not enough physics

curricula are based on learning outcomes and practice,

well-integrated, research-based, and ethically oriented

curricula are few (W3, W5, W11).

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Strategies to Bridge Gap 1

Specialization: Physicists must focus on and concentrate resources on theproposed mission statement.

Diversification: Physicists should not limit their role to radiation based devicesbut involve themselves in the teaching of all biomedical devices.

Innovation: Physicists must be proactive and use all opportunities to set up newmodules related to medical devices. The opportunities presented by the currentemphasis on quality and safety in healthcare should be exploited fully.

Elimination of critical weaknesses: Steps must be taken to strengthen theweak strategic planning, marketing and publicizing competences of physicists(W9).

Strategic alliances: Whenever possible a biomedical physics-engineering-medical department should be set up within the medical & healthcare faculty toensure a stronger presence (W8). This would help build bridges to theseprofessions.

External agencies: The physics community should use its relations with externalagencies to insist that in the interest of quality and safe healthcare, biomedicaldevice education be made mandatory via appropriate directives.

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Strategies to Bridge Gap 2

Elimination of critical weaknesses: The absence of

international harmonization of curricula needs to be

addressed with urgency. EFOMP must be encouraged to

publish a policy statement in this regard.

Develop weak competences and resources: More

attention must be given to the development of the

communication and pedagogical competences of

biomedical physicists as much as is given to their

technical-scientific competences (W5). Pedagogical

resources must be developed, collected and made

available via the EFOMP website.

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Thank You for Your Attention!

carmel.j.caruana@um.edu.mt

violeta.karenauskaite@ff.vu.lt

SIG publications:

1. C.J. Caruana, M. Wasilewska-Radwanska, A. Aurengo, P.P. Dendy, V. Karenauskaite,

M.R. Malisan, J.H. Meijer, V. Mornstein, E. Rokita, E. Vano, M. Wucherer. The role of

the biomedical physicist in the education of the healthcare professions: An

EFOMP project. Physica Medica - EJMP, 2009;25(3),133-140.

2. C.J. Caruana, M. Wasilewska-Radwanska, A. Aurengo, P.P. Dendy, V. Karenauskaite,

M.R. Malisan, J.H. Meijer, D. Mihov, V. Mornstein, E. Rokita, E. Vano, M. Weckstrom,

M. Wucherer. A comprehensive SWOT audit of the role of the biomedical

physicist in the education of healthcare professionals in Europe, Physica

Medica - EJMP, 2010;26(2),98-110.

3. C.J. Caruana, M. Wasilewska-Radwanska, A. Aurengo, P.P. Dendy, V. Karenauskaite,

M.R. Malisan, J.H. Meijer, D. Mihov, V. Mornstein, E. Rokita, E. Vano, M. Weckstrom,

M. Wucherer. A development model for the role of the biomedical physicist in

the education of healthcare professionals in Europe. (Under review by Physica

Medica)