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.Website about aims, motto and mission statements, EFOMP, retrieved on 16 March 2020
Structure The federation consists of national member organisations (NMOs) representing medical physics in Europe, where only one NMO can represent the corresponding nationEFOMP Manual - an operational guide, EFOMP, Version from 25 January 2023 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:Website about the structure of the federation, EFOMP, retrieved on 17 March 2020 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 EFOMP is the umbrella organisation for 37 nations, each of which are constituted by one medical physics organisationWebsite about national member organisations, EFOMP, retrieved on 2 April 2020 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 societies exist, these can be Associate Members.The Russian NMO terminated its membership in August 2022.
Member state Current national member organisation Founded EFOMPaffiliation Numberof delegates Approved nationalregistration scheme Albanian Association of Medical Physics (AAMP) 2019 1 Austrian Society of Medical Physics (ÖGMP) 1980 1980 2 Yes Société Bèlge des Physiciens des HospitauxBelgische Vereniging Ziekenhuis Fysici (SBPH-BVZF) 1980 2 Association of Medical Physicists in Bosnia and Herzegovina (AMPBH) (1980) 2017 1 Bulgarian Society of Biomedical Physics and Engineering (BSBPE) 1971 1983 1 Croatian Medical Physics Association (CROMPA) 1984 (1980) 1 Cyprus Association of Medical Physics and Bio-Medical Engineering (CAMPBE) 1988 1 Yes Czech Association of Medical Physicists (CAMP) 2004 (1986) 2004 2 Danish Society for Medical Physics (DSMP) 1981 1980 2 Estonian Society for Biomedical Engineering and Medical Physics (ESBEMP) 1 Finnish Association of Hospital Physicists (FAHP) 1965 1980 2 Yes Société Française de Physique Médicale (SFPM) 1972 1980 3 Yes Deutsche Gesellschaft für Medizinische Physik (DGMP) 1969 1980 3 Yes Hellenic Association of Medical Physicists (HAMP) 1969 1981 2 Yes Hungarian Society of Medical Physics (HSMP) 1974 1987 1 Yes Irish Association of Physicists in Medicine (IAPM) 2010 1985 2 Associazione Italiana di Fisica Medica (AIFM) 1998 1980 3 Yes Icelandic Society of Medical Physicists (ISMP) 2022 2023 1 Latvian Medical Engineering and Physics Society (LMEPS) 2016 1 Lithuanian Medical Physics Society (LMPS) 2009 2012 1 Association Luxembourgeoise de Physique Médicale (ALPhyM) 2015 2023 1 Malta Association of Medical Physicists (MAMP) 2007 2010 1 Association of Medical Physicists from the Republic of Moldova (AFMMoldova) 2016 2016 1 Nederlandse vereniging voor klinische fysica (NVKF) 1973 1980 3 Yes Association of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering (AMPBE) (1980) 2004 1 Norwegian Association of Medical Physics (NFMF) 1976 1980 2 Polish Society of Medical Physics (PSMP) 1965 1987 2 Yes Medical Physics Division of the Portuguese Physics Society (PPS) 1985 2 Romanian College of Medical Physicists (CFMR) 1990 (renewed 2010) 2015 2 Association of Medical Physicists of Russia (AMPR) 1993 2010 1 Serbian Association of Medical Physicists (DMFS) 2012 (1980) 2012 1 Slovak Society of Physics and Biophysics Slovak Medical Society (SKBS) (1986) 2011 1 Slovenian Biophysical Society (SBS) (1980) 2013 1 Sociedad Espanola de Fisica Medica (SEFM) 1974 1980 3 Swedish Hospital Physicists Association (SHPA) 1976 1980 2 Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Strahlenbiologie und Medizinische PhysikSociété Suisse de Radiobiologie et de Physique MédicaleSocietà Svizzera di Radiobiologia e di Fisica Medica (SGSMP-SSRPM-SSRFM) 1964 1980 2 Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM) 1943 1980 3
Associate Member Organisations | || 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
Several projects at European level with impact on medical physics matters and legislation have been undertaken.Website about projects, EFOMP, retrieved on 26 January 2023 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).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 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.Website about BSS transposition, ESR, retrieved on 26 March 2020 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 Website of MEDIRAD, European Institute for Biomedical Imaging Research (EIBIR), retrieved on 26 March 2020 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.Website of EFOMP, EFOMP, retrieved on 10 January 2024
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.
Education and training The EFOMP School for Medical Physics Experts (ESMPE)Website about the EFOMP School for Medical Physics Experts, EFOMP, retrieved on 27 March 2020 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, radiotherapy 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.Website about the e-learning platform, EFOMP, retrieved on 29 March 2020