Postgraduate Study in Medical Physics at ETH Zürich

Ten years ago, in 1994, the postgraduate study in Medical Physics at ETH Zurich was born. At that time, a couple of ambitious students registered to this very first course and launched a successful story of the "NDS Medizinphysik". In the following, a retrospective overview of this unique education will be presented.

Already in 1992, Prof. P. Rüegsegger analyzed the potential of a postgraduate study in Medical Physics. The situation at that time was such that the Swiss Society of Radiobiology and Medical Physics (SSRMP) had already introduced the Professional Certificate in Medical Physics. In order to attain the certification, a potential candidate is required to accumulate basic knowledge in general fields as well as deep knowledge in two optional fields. However, although the guidelines for attaining the certification were expressed, there was a lack of adequate education available in Switzerland. And it was not until the introduction of the NDS Medizinphysik that young physicists have an opportunity to educate in the particular field of Medical Physics.

Obviously, if one wants to launch such a postgraduate study, you are faced with different problems. Most difficult was the estimation of the number of students interested in this education. From many interviews and questionnaires it turned out that there will be a demand of approximately 5 medical physicists per year. This small number led to the current structure of the NDS Medizinphysik.

Since the launch of the NDS Medizinphysik in 1994, the postgraduate study is structured as an in-service training and takes two years. In order to have an acceptable number of students, the course starts every second year. Additionally, the number of students was increased by the involvement of more general fields related to Medical Physics, as for instance Biomechanics or Tissue Engineering. There was clear that by this expansion to other fields (currently associated with Biomedical Engineering) also engineers, biologists, computer scientists, and even physicians would be interested.

In Figure 1, the structure of the NDS Medizinphysik is demonstrated. In the first year, all students stay together and follow the fundamental lectures. Next to the lectures and exercises, the students attend several block courses where they are to work practically. In the second year, the students must decide whether they want to continue with "Fachrichtung" A or B. The former focuses on the "classical" medical physicist who is intended to attain the certification of the SSRMP in Medical Physics. The latter concentrates on the medical physicist who wants to deal with matter relating to Biomedical Engineering.


Figure 1: Structure of the NDS Medizinphysik. In the first year, fundamental knowledge is taught for all students. In the second year, the students chose between two directions (Fachrichtung A and B, respectively) with different lectures.

In the meantime, four courses finished and the fifth course will finish in autumn 2004. In Table 1, a summary of the number of graduates is given. The second column (Entry) gives the number of students which entered the postgraduate course. Typically one of four students does not graduate (mostly due to organizing problems with the job position). The number of physicists is also given in the second column. Overall, about 62% of the students are physicists. In total, 86 students are graduated which corresponds to 17.2±4.1 (1 SD) graduates per course. The number of students graduated in Fachrichtung A is 42 (49%) whereas Fachrichtung B implies 44 (51%) of the students.

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Table 1: Summary of the number of graduates during the last decade. In total, 120 students entered the postgraduate course while 86 successfully graduated. The total number of students graduated in Fachrichtung A (42) is nearly equal to the number of students graduated in Fachrichtung B (44).

Regarding only the graduates in Fachrichtung A, it is apparent that the absolute number of graduates per course is nearly constant (8.4±2.9). This is a little bit less than the initially intended number of 5 physicists per year. On the other side, for Fachrichtung B, the number of students increased with the years by a factor of about 3 and now clearly dominates the number of students of Fachrichtung A. This is shown in Figure 2 and 3 where the absolute and the relative numbers of students per course are given.


Figure 2: Absolute number of graduates per course.		Figure 3: Relative number of graduates per course.

Undoubtedly, the first course was dominated by some accumulated needs for medical physicists who wanted to attain the certification of the SSRMP. This is clearly seen from Figure 3 showing that the graduates in Fachrichtung A dominate the first course. However, with time this distribution is turned into a dominance of graduates in Fachrichtung B. A similar but weaker trend is appearing for the relative number of physicists attending a given course. There is an ongoing decrease of physicists from 77% to 46% with time. Hence, one reason for the remarkable decrease of the relative number of graduates in Fachrichtung A is the continuing decrease of physicists entering the NDS Medizinphysik. Another reason is the fact that Fachrichtung B became more and more attractive in recent years. Obviously, the commonly known trends in fields like "Life Sciences" and "Biomedical Engineering" affect also the students entering the NDS Medizinphysik.

In recent years, 12 graduates attained the certification of SSRMP for Medical Physics. It seems that this is a small number compared to the 42 graduates in Fachrichtung A. However, one has to take into account that at the time of graduation, the students usually (except for course No. 1 where many students were employed in a clinic) do not work in a clinic. Thus, they are to be certified some years later because they have to work in a clinical environment to gain experience. In order to overcome this delay, clinical positions should be available for postgraduate students.

In Figure 4, for Fachrichtung A, it is shown what postgraduate individuals are doing these days. Most frequently (38%), the graduates work in a clinic indicating that postgraduates of the NDS Medizinphysik are questioned people in the job market. This is confirmed by the large numbers of people working in a medical physics related research area (19%), in school or administration services (12%), and in industry (7%). Less than one fourth is not dealing with medical physics in the currently conducted job.

Figure 4: What are graduates of Fachrichtung A doing these days? Most frequently they work in a clinic.

In the last decade, the NDS Medizinphysik has taken an important role in educating students in the field of medical physics. During this time period, more than 100 students entered the postgraduate course and in autumn 2004 more than 80 persons will be graduated. The structure of the course has proven to be appropriate for the students and the lecturers. In addition, the NDS Medizinphysik has demonstrated to be an adequate education for individuals and even supports them in finding a placement.

We are confident that the NDS Medizinphysik will play an important role in the future. However, although there is reason for confidence, some facts are to be kept in mind. As has been indicated before, there is a decrease of the relative number of physicists who are interested in attending the postgraduate study. Even more remarkable (and maybe even alarming for SSRMP) is the fact that more and more students choose Fachrichtung B instead of A.

The next course starts this autumn (October 2004).
More information is available from the internet: www.biomed.ee.ethz.ch/nds.
Registration deadline is May 31st 2004.

	Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Strahlenbiologie und Medizinische Physik Société Suisse de Radiobiologie et de Physique Médicale Società Svizzera di Radiobiologia e di Fisica Medica Swiss Society of Radiobiology and Medical Physics
Bulletin 1/2004 (April 2004)

Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Strahlenbiologie und Medizinische Physik Société Suisse de Radiobiologie et de Physique Médicale Società Svizzera di Radiobiologia e di Fisica Medica Swiss Society of Radiobiology and Medical Physics

Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Strahlenbiologie und Medizinische Physik
Société Suisse de Radiobiologie et de Physique Médicale
Società Svizzera di Radiobiologia e di Fisica Medica
Swiss Society of Radiobiology and Medical Physics