ABSTRACT
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.
Subject(s)
Medicine , Female , Humans , Mexico , Physics , WorkforceABSTRACT
PURPOSE: Radiosurgery uses small fields and high-radiation doses to treat intra- and extracranial lesions in a single session. The lack of a lateral electronic equilibrium and the presence of high-dose gradients in these fields are challenges for adequate measurements. The availability of radiation detectors with the high spatial resolution required is restricted to only a few. Stereotactic diodes and EBT radiochromic films have been demonstrated to be good detectors for small-beam dosimetry. Because the stereotactic diode is the standard measurement for the dosimetry of radiosurgical beams, the goal of this work was to perform measurements with the radiochromic film Gafchromic(®) EBT2 and compare its results with a stereotactic diode. METHODS: Total scatter factors, tissue maximum, and off-axis ratios from a 6 MV small photon beams were measured using EBT2 radiochromic film in a water phantom. The film-measured data were evaluated by comparing it with the data measured with a stereotactic field diode (IBA-Dosimetry). RESULTS: The film and diode measurements had excellent agreement. The differences between the detectors were less than or equal to 2.0% for the tissue maximum and the off-axis ratios. However, for the total scatter factors, there were significant differences, up to 4.9% (relative to the reference field), for field sizes less than 1.0 cm. CONCLUSIONS: This work found that the Gafchromic(®) EBT2 film is adequate for small photon beam measurements, particularly for tissue maximum and off-axis ratios. However, careful attention must be taken when measuring output factors of small beams below 1.0 cm due to the film's energy dependence. The measurement differences may be attributable to the film's active layer composition because EBT2 incorporates higher Z elements (i.e., bromide and potassium), hence revealing a potential energy dependence for the dosimetry of small photon beams.
