Newhauser Wayne D
*Department of Physics and Astronomy, Louisiana State University and Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center, 439-B Nicholson Hall, Tower Drive, Baton Rouge, LA 70803-4001.
Health Phys. 2017 Feb;112(2):139-148. doi: 10.1097/HP.0000000000000614.
The medical physics workforce comprises approximately 24,000 workers worldwide and approximately 8,200 in the United States. The occupation is a recognized, established, and mature profession that is undergoing considerable growth and change, with many of these changes being driven by scientific, technical, and medical advances. Presently, the medical physics workforce is adequate to meet societal needs. However, data are emerging that suggest potential risks of shortages and other problems that could develop within a few years. Some of the governing factors are well established, such as the increasing number of incident cancers thereby increasing workload, while others, such as the future use of radiation treatments and changes in healthcare economic policies, are uncertain and make the future status of the workforce difficult to forecast beyond the next several years. This review examines some of the major factors that govern supply and demand for medical physicists, discusses published projections and their uncertainties, and presents other information that may help to inform short- and long-term planning of various aspects of the future workforce. It includes a description of the general characteristics of the workforce, including information on its size, educational attainment, certification, age distribution, etc. Because the supply of new workers is governed by educational and training pathways, graduate education, post-doctoral training, and residency training are reviewed, along with trends in state and federal support for research and education. Selected professional aspects of the field also are considered, including professional certification and compensation. We speculate on the future outlook of the workforce and provide recommendations regarding future actions pertaining to the future medical physics workforce.
全球医学物理领域的从业人员约有24000名，美国约有8200名。该职业是一个公认的、成熟的专业领域，目前正经历着显著的发展和变革，其中许多变革是由科学、技术和医学进步推动的。目前，医学物理领域的劳动力足以满足社会需求。然而，有数据显示，未来几年可能会出现短缺和其他问题的潜在风险。一些影响因素已为人熟知，比如癌症发病率上升导致工作量增加；而其他因素，如放射治疗的未来应用和医疗经济政策的变化，则具有不确定性，这使得未来几年之后该领域劳动力的状况难以预测。本综述探讨了一些影响医学物理师供需的主要因素，讨论了已发表的预测及其不确定性，并提供了其他有助于为未来劳动力各方面的短期和长期规划提供参考的信息。它包括对该领域劳动力总体特征的描述，包括其规模、教育程度、认证情况、年龄分布等信息。由于新从业人员的供应受教育和培训途径的制约，因此本文对研究生教育、博士后培训和住院医师培训进行了综述，并探讨了州和联邦对研究与教育支持的趋势。该领域的一些特定专业方面也在考虑范围内，包括专业认证和薪酬。我们对该领域劳动力的未来前景进行了推测，并就与未来医学物理领域劳动力相关的未来行动提出了建议。
