RESUMO

PURPOSE: To present an overview of the status of Medical Physics practice in Mexico, promote the legal recognition of Medical Physics high-end training, and provide information that will potentially improve the Mexican healthcare system. METHODS: For the purpose of this research, the concept of "Medical Physics Professional/s" (MPP) is introduced to refer to any person/s executing the role of a clinical medical physicist (cMP) in whole or in part independent of academic profile, training or experience. A database of MPP in Mexico was built from official sources and personal communication with peers. Database records included the following fields: employer/s, specialty, academic profile, and annual income (when available). RESULTS: 133 centers in Mexico employ MPP, 49% of which are public institutions. 360 positions involving cMP roles were identified at the National Healthcare System (occupied by 283 MPP), 77% of which corresponded to radiation therapy. Public healthcare services hold 65% of the reported positions. Only 40% of MPP hold a graduate degree in Medical Physics, 46% of whom were located in the most densely populated region of Mexico. Of all MPP, 32% were women. CONCLUSIONS: This work allowed to clearly identify the current challenges of Medical Physics practice in Mexico, such as: insufficiency and uneven geographical distribution of qualified manpower, gender imparity, multishifting and wage gap. The products derived from this work could be used to guide the efforts to improve the Mexican healthcare system.

Assuntos

Medicina , Feminino , Humanos , México , Física , Recursos Humanos

RESUMO

Licensure for medical physicists has been pursued for a number of years, with success in some states and failure in others. Lessons from these cases has been used to strengthen the licensure effort, but they have also demonstrated that licensure may not be an option in some states. In such cases, we still need a methodology to achieve credentialing and practice standards. A comprehensive registration approach may provide that methodology. This talk will discuss features of comprehensive registration, along with positive and negative aspects of the approach. It will be demonstrated that comprehensive registration is a viable alternative that can be used when licensure is not achievable. LEARNING OBJECTIVES: 1. Understand the differences between licensure and the regulatory approach. 2. Learn how the regulatory approach can achieve the goal of requiring se of Qualified Medical Physicists with an appropriate scope of practice. 3. Discuss ways of working with regulators to implement regulatory changes. 4. Discuss potential draft regulatory language.