Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
Department of Radiation Oncology, Maine Medical Center, Portland, Maine, USA.
J Appl Clin Med Phys. 2023 Oct;24(10):e14124. doi: 10.1002/acm2.14124. Epub 2023 Aug 21.
Northwest Medical Physics Center (NMPC) is a nonprofit organization that provides clinical physics support to over 35 radiation therapy facilities concentrated in the Pacific Northwest. Although clinical service is the primary function of NMPC, the diverse array of clinical sites and physics expertise has allowed for the establishment of structured education and research programs, which are complementary to the organization's clinical mission. Three clinical training programs have been developed at NMPC: a therapy medical physics residency program accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Physics Education Programs (CAMPEP), an Applied Physics Technologist (APT) program, and a summer undergraduate internship program. A partnership has also been established with a major radiation oncology clinical vendor for the purposes of validating and testing new clinical devices across multiple facilities. These programs are managed by a dedicated education and research team at NMPC, made up of four qualified medical physicists (QMPs). The education and research work has made a significant contribution to the organization's clinical mission, and it has provided new training opportunities for early-career physicists across many different clinical environments. Education and research can be incorporated into nonacademic clinical environments, improving the quality of patient care, and increasing the number and type of training opportunities available for medical physicists.
西北医学物理中心（NMPC）是一个非营利组织，为集中在太平洋西北地区的 35 个以上的放射治疗设施提供临床物理支持。虽然临床服务是 NMPC 的主要职能，但多样化的临床站点和物理专业知识使得建立结构良好的教育和研究计划成为可能，这些计划与该组织的临床任务相辅相成。NMPC 开发了三个临床培训计划：一个由医学物理教育计划认证委员会（CAMPEP）认可的治疗医学物理住院医师培训计划、一个应用物理技术员（APT）计划和一个暑期本科生实习计划。NMPC 还与一家主要的放射肿瘤学临床供应商建立了合作关系，目的是在多个设施中验证和测试新的临床设备。这些计划由 NMPC 的一个专门的教育和研究团队管理，该团队由四名合格的医学物理学家（QMPs）组成。教育和研究工作为该组织的临床任务做出了重大贡献，并为许多不同临床环境中的早期职业物理学家提供了新的培训机会。教育和研究可以融入非学术临床环境中，提高患者护理质量，并增加可供医学物理学家使用的培训机会的数量和类型。
