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European Federation of Organisations for Medical Physics

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The European Federation of Organisations for Medical Physics (EFOMP) was founded in May 1980 in London to serve as an umbrella organisation representing the national Medical Physics societies in Europe. The office moved to Utrecht in January 2021. It is a non-profit organisation and aims to foster and coordinate the activities of its national member organisations, encourage exchange and dissemination of professional and scientific information, develop guidelines for education, training and accreditation programmes and to make recommendations on the responsibilities, organisational relationships and roles of medical physicists.[1]

European Federation of Organisations for Medical Physics
AbbreviationEFOMP
FormationMay 1980
Founded atLondon
PurposeUmbrella Organisation for European National Societies in Medical Physics
HeadquartersNetherlands, Utrecht
Region
Europe
Membership
37 member organisations
38 company members
900 individual associate members
(January 2024)
Official language
English
President
Efi Koutsouveli
Vice President
Paddy Gilligan
Secretary General
Brenda Byrne
Treasurer
Jaroslav Ptacek
Websitewww.efomp.org

Structure

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The federation consists of national member organisations (NMOs) representing medical physics in Europe, where only one NMO can represent the corresponding nation[2] The number of representatives each NMO can send into the council depends on the number of national members. The council is the governing authority of EFOMP and normally meets once a year. The council elects the president and all other members of the executive and governing committees, it is responsible for maintaining the constitution of the federation, it handles all NMO related issues and sets up committees, foundations and other legal and operative bodies to facilitate the aims and purpose of the federation. The officers of the council are the members of the governing committee and the chairpersons of the committees. The federation has six permanent committees:[3]

  • Communications and Publications: is in charge of demonstrating the application of physical sciences to medicine to the public. The committee is responsible for the dissemination of information on EFOMP activities to enhance the education, competence, research and continuing professional development of medical physicists across Europe via digital channels of communications and publications (journal, newsletter Website, social media).
  • European and International Matters: represents the interest of the federation to the various bodies of the European Union and beyond and promotes international links among National Member Organizations and other professional bodies.
  • Education and Training: is responsible for supporting NMOs in providing educational approaches for physics in medicine
  • Professional Matters: is in charge of establishing and maintaining the recognition of the Medical Physicists as an academic profession in Europe bridging between physics and medicine and deals with professional issues related to the medical physics profession
  • Projects: is in charge of participation in and coordination of major European projects in close collaboration with national and international legal bodies
  • Science: is responsible for supporting the NMOs in setting up scientific activities and organizing ordinary meetings, promotes the operation of working groups on special topics and participates in the production of guidelines and policies describing good practice

National Member Organisations

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EFOMP is the umbrella organisation for 37 nations, each of which are constituted by one medical physics organisation[4] and each representing together more than 9000 medical physicists and clinical engineers working in the field of medical physics. Each national society has a certain number of delegates in the council, depending on the number of national members: up to 100 memberships result in one delegate, up to 400 entitles to two delegates and a society with 401 or more memberships can have three delegates.Each country can only be represented by one NMO. When multiple socitiees exist, these can be Associate Members.The Russian NMO terminated its membership in August 2022.

Member state Current national member organisation Founded EFOMP
affiliation		 Number
of delegates		 Approved national
registration scheme
  Albania Albanian Association of Medical Physics (AAMP) 2019 1
  Austria Austrian Society of Medical Physics (ÖGMP) 1980 1980 2 Yes
  Belgium Société Bèlge des Physiciens des Hospitaux
Belgische Vereniging Ziekenhuis Fysici (SBPH-BVZF)		 1980 2
  Bosnia and Herzegovina Association of Medical Physicists in Bosnia and Herzegovina (AMPBH) (1980) 2017 1
  Bulgaria Bulgarian Society of Biomedical Physics and Engineering (BSBPE) 1971 1983 1
  Croatia Croatian Medical Physics Association (CROMPA) 1984 (1980) 1
  Cyprus Cyprus Association of Medical Physics and Bio-Medical Engineering (CAMPBE) 1988 1 Yes
  Czechia Czech Association of Medical Physicists (CAMP) 2004 (1986) 2004 2
  Denmark Danish Society for Medical Physics (DSMP) 1981 1980 2
  Estonia Estonian Society for Biomedical Engineering and Medical Physics (ESBEMP) 1
  Finland Finnish Association of Hospital Physicists (FAHP) 1965 1980 2 Yes
  France Société Française de Physique Médicale (SFPM) 1972 1980 3 Yes
  Germany Deutsche Gesellschaft für Medizinische Physik (DGMP) 1969 1980 3 Yes
  Greece Hellenic Association of Medical Physicists (HAMP) 1969 1981 2 Yes
  Hungary Hungarian Society of Medical Physics (HSMP) 1974 1987 1 Yes
  Ireland Irish Association of Physicists in Medicine (IAPM) 2010 1985 2
  Italy Associazione Italiana di Fisica Medica (AIFM) 1998 1980 3 Yes
  Iceland Icelandic Society of Medical Physicists (ISMP) 2022 2023 1
  Latvia Latvian Medical Engineering and Physics Society (LMEPS) 2016 1
  Lithuania Lithuanian Medical Physics Society (LMPS) 2009 2012 1
  Luxembourg Association Luxembourgeoise de Physique Médicale (ALPhyM) 2015 2023 1
  Malta Malta Association of Medical Physicists (MAMP) 2007 2010 1
  Moldova Association of Medical Physicists from the Republic of Moldova (AFMMoldova) 2016 2016 1
  Netherlands Nederlandse vereniging voor klinische fysica (NVKF) 1973 1980 3 Yes
  North Macedonia Association of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering (AMPBE) (1980) 2004 1
  Norway Norwegian Association of Medical Physics (NFMF) 1976 1980 2
  Poland Polish Society of Medical Physics (PSMP) 1965 1987 2 Yes
  Portugal Medical Physics Division of the Portuguese Physics Society (PPS) 1985 2
  Romania Romanian College of Medical Physicists (CFMR) 1990 (renewed 2010) 2015 2
  Russia Association of Medical Physicists of Russia (AMPR) 1993 2010 1
  Serbia Serbian Association of Medical Physicists (DMFS) 2012 (1980) 2012 1
  Slovakia Slovak Society of Physics and Biophysics Slovak Medical Society (SKBS) (1986) 2011 1
  Slovenia Slovenian Biophysical Society (SBS) (1980) 2013 1
  Spain Sociedad Espanola de Fisica Medica (SEFM) 1974 1980 3
  Sweden Swedish Hospital Physicists Association (SHPA) 1976 1980 2
  Switzerland Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Strahlenbiologie und Medizinische Physik
Société Suisse de Radiobiologie et de Physique Médicale
Società Svizzera di Radiobiologia e di Fisica Medica (SGSMP-SSRPM-SSRFM)		 1964 1980 2
  United Kingdom Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM) 1943 1980 3

Associate Member Organisations

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|   Lithuania || Lithuanian Association of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering (LMFBIA)|| 2009 || 2012 ||

The foundation date specifies the constitution of the earliest national organisation (separate society or division of superordinate organisation) of natural scientists or engineers working in a clinical environment which can be considered the predecessor of the NMO. The affiliation dates represent the earliest memberships of the current member nations (or its predecessor, e.g. Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia) represented by a society.

European and international matters/projects

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Several projects at European level with impact on medical physics matters and legislation have been undertaken.[5] EFOMP is either in the advisory panel of multiple European projects or takes part in projects as a consortium member and endorses different projects that have an impact on and connection to medical physics profession, research, education as well as to the field of radiation protection.

One of the most important was the transposition of the Basic Safety Standards (BSS) Directive (Council Directive 2013/59/Euratom).[6] After the BSS was brought into force in 2014, EFOMP headed a European consortium with the task to merge current scientific, technological and operational knowledge and experience with the consolidation of different directives and recommendations in the field of radiation protection. The objective of this project was to evaluate Member States‘ activities for the transposition and implementation of Council Directive in the medical area.[7] In addition an exchange of initial experiences and resolutions was coordinated in order to identify good practices. In 2021, EFOMP has been involved in projects aimed to study the implementation of the Council Directive 2013/59/Euratom requirements for Medical Equipment with Respect to Monitoring and Control of Patient's Radiation Exposures, the analysis of workforce availability, education, and training needs to ensure quality and safety aspects of medical applications involving ionising radiation in the EU,the implementation of the Euratom and the EU legal bases with respect to the therapeutic uses of radiopharmaceuticals. All these studies are part of the European Union SAMIRA Strategic Agenda for Medical Ionising Radiation Applications and is the energy sector's contribution to Europe's Beating Cancer Plan.

MEDIRAD, has been one of the projects EFOMP was involved in during its preparation phase [8] started by the European Union in 2017 dealing with implications of medical low dose radiation exposure and participated in work package six in order to formulate policy recommendations for the effective protection of patients and medical workers and the general public.

EFOMP has been a stakeholder in the ENEN project with an interest to build European Nuclear Competence through continuous Advanced and Structured Education and Training Actions.[9]

Guidelines for manufacturers have been developed in 2019 jointly with the Coordination Committee of the Radiological, Electromedical and Healthcare IT Industry (COCIR), EFOMP and the European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO) to meet the requirements of article 78.2 of the Basic Safety Standards (BSS) Directive (96/29/Euratom). The guidelines, developed also with the cooperation of the Heads of European Radiological Protection Competent Authorities (HERCA), provide guidance to manufacturers on how to compile information on radiological risk in an easy to use document, that is addressed to undertakings to help them carry out risk evaluation of radiotherapy departments, as required by article 63 and 78.2 of the BSS Directive.[10]

Education and training

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The EFOMP School for Medical Physics Experts (ESMPE)[11] organizes medical physics education and training events specifically targeted to Medical Physicists who are already Medical Physics Experts (MPEs) or would like to achieve Medical Physics Expert status. Several editions were organised jointly with COCIR driven by the need for a closer cooperation between manufacturers and medical physicists to increase the awareness of features of medical devices related to imaging,[12] radiotherapy[13] and nuclear medicine. In 2019, EFOMP launched an e-learning platform, where pdfs and video recordings of the lectures given during the EFOMP school editions have been made available.[14]

The main target of EFOMP is the harmonization of Medical Physics education and training standards throughout Europe. For this purpose, two elements have been implemented:

  • NMOs education and training scheme for medical physicists can be validated by the Professional Matters Committee and approved by the EFOMP Board of Officers. The long-term aim of the National Registration Scheme (NRS)[15] is a generally accepted level of expertise, facilitating an exchange of professionals over Europe.
  • The European Examination board (EEB)[16] awards the European Diploma of Medical Physics (EDMP) and the European Attestation Certificate to those Medical Physicists that have reached the Medical Physics Expert (EACMPE) level.

Science

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Included in the scope of the federation is to coordinate scientific activities and to support the development of guidelines and directives. A number of Working groups are operating for a specific time period to create quality control protocols, guidance documents, harmonise practices update core curricula.[17]

Every two years, EFOMP organizes the European Congress of Medical Physics (ECMP).[18] The first congress took place in Athens (2016), the second one in Copenhagen (2018), the 3rd online due to COVID19 pandemic, the 4th in Dublin (2022), the forth will take place in Munich and the fifth in Valecia (2026).

Since 2007, Physica Medica[19] the European Journal of Medical Physics (EJMP), is the official scientific journal of the organisation. The owner of the journal is the Italian Association of Medical Physics (AIFM) and it is also the official organ of the French (SFPM), Irish (IAPM), Czech Republic (CAMP) and Hellenic (HAMP) Societies of Medical Physics. In 2019, EJMP has become official publication of the International Organization for Medical Physics (IOMP).[20] Every month a volume is published. According to the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) the current Impact Factor is 2.532 (2018).

There are three other scientific journals that EFOMP is associated with:

  • Physiological Measurements[21] owned by the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM)
  • European Radiology[22] owned by the European Society of Radiology (ESR)
  • Physics in Medicine and Biology[23] owned by IPEM

EFOMP publishes a quarterly electronic newsletter called the European Medical Physics News (EMPnews).[24]

Co-operation

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EFOMP created an international network of relationships with other stakeholders in the field of physical science applied to healthcare.

Collaborations:[25]

Memoranda of understanding:[34]

  • American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM)
  • European Association of Nuclear Medicine (EANM)
  • European Coordination Committee of the Radiological, Electromedical and Healthcare IT Industry (COCIR)
  • European Federation of Radiographer Societies (EFRS)
  • European Network for Training and Education of Medical Physics Experts (EUTEMPE-NET)
  • European Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine and Biology (ESMRMB)
  • European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO)
  • European Society of Radiology (ESR)
  • European Society of Medical Imaging Informatics (EuSoMII)
  • European Radiation Dosimetry Group (EURADOS)
  • Middle East Federation Of Organizations of Medical Physics (MEFOMP)[35]
  • Nuclear Medicine Europe (NMEU)

References

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  1. ^ Website about aims, motto and mission statements, EFOMP, retrieved on 16 March 2020
  2. ^ EFOMP Manual - an operational guide, EFOMP, Version from 25 January 2023
  3. ^ Website about the structure of the federation, EFOMP, retrieved on 17 March 2020
  4. ^ Website about national member organisations, EFOMP, retrieved on 2 April 2020
  5. ^ Website about projects, EFOMP, retrieved on 26 January 2023
  6. ^ Council Directive 2013/59/EURATOM laying down basic safety standards for protection against the dangers arising from exposure to ionising radiation, and repealing Directives 89/618/Euratom, 90/641/Euratom, 96/29/Euratom, 97/43/Euratom and 2003/122/Euratom, Council of the European Union, Version 5. December 2013
  7. ^ Website about BSS transposition, ESR, retrieved on 26 March 2020
  8. ^ Website of MEDIRAD, European Institute for Biomedical Imaging Research (EIBIR), retrieved on 26 March 2020
  9. ^ Website of EFOMP, EFOMP, retrieved on 10 January 2024
  10. ^ Website about guidelines for manufacturers, COCIR, retrieved on 25 March 2020
  11. ^ Website about the EFOMP School for Medical Physics Experts, EFOMP, retrieved on 27 March 2020[permanent dead link‍]
  12. ^ COCIR Website, press release of school edition on angiographic equipment retrieved on 29 March 2020
  13. ^ COCIR Website, press release of school edition on treatment planning systems, retrieved on 29 March 2020
  14. ^ Website about the e-learning platform, EFOMP, retrieved on 29 March 2020
  15. ^ Procedure for approval of National Registration Schemes by EFOMP, EFOMP, retrieved on 27 March 2020
  16. ^ Website about the European Examination board (EEB), EFOMP, retrieved on 27 March 2020[permanent dead link‍]
  17. ^ "Website about working groups, EFOMP, retrieved on 29 March 2020". Archived from the original on 15 April 2020. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
  18. ^ Website of European Congresses of Medical Physics, EFOMP, retrieved on 25 March 2020
  19. ^ Website of Physica Medica, EFOMP, retrieved on 25 March 2020
  20. ^ "EJMP becomes official publication of IOMP - International Organization for Medical Physics". 8 April 2019.
  21. ^ Website of Physiological Measurements, IPEM, retrieved on 26 March 2020
  22. ^ Website of European Radiology, ESR, retrieved on 2 April 2020
  23. ^ Website of Physics in Medicine and Biology, IPEM, retrieved on 26 March 2020
  24. ^ Website about European Medical Physics News, EFOMP, retrieved on 30 March 2020
  25. ^ Website about Collaborations, EFOMP, retrieved on 27 March 2020[permanent dead link‍]
  26. ^ Website about regional organizations, IOMP, retrieved on 17 March 2020
  27. ^ Website of RPOP, IAEA, retrieved on 17 March 2020
  28. ^ Website about shareholders, EIBIR, retrieved on 17 March 2020
  29. ^ "Website of HERCA, HERCA, retrieved on 17 March 2020". Archived from the original on 13 May 2020. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
  30. ^ Website of EUTERP, EUTERP, retrieved on 17 March 2020
  31. ^ Website of ICRP, ICRP, retrieved on 17 January 2023
  32. ^ Website of DICOM, ICRP, retrieved on 17 January 2023
  33. ^ Website of the ECIBC, European Commission, retrieved on 17 March 2020
  34. ^ Website about memoranda of understanding, EFOMP, retrieved on 27 March 2020[permanent dead link‍]
  35. ^ Memorandum of Understanding between European Federation of Organizations for Medical Physics (EFOMP) and the Middle East Federation of Organizations of Medical Physics (MEFOMP), MEFOMP, Version 14. December 2017
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