Code of ethics for the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (Revised): Report of Task Group 109.

The American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) has established a comprehensive Code of Ethics for its members. The Code is a formal part of AAPM governance, maintained as Professional Policy 24, and includes both principles of ethical practice and the rules by which a complaint will be adjudicated. The structure and content of the Code have been crafted to also serve the much broader purpose of giving practical ethical guidance to AAPM members for making sound decisions in their professional lives. The Code is structured in four major parts: a Preamble, a set of ten guiding Principles, Guidelines that elucidate the application of the Principles in various practice settings, and the formal Complaint process. Guidelines have been included to address evolving social and cultural norms, such as the use of social media and the broadening scope of considerations important in an evolving workplace. The document presented here is the first major revision of the AAPM Code of Ethics since 2008. This revision was approved by the Board of Directors to become effective 1 January 2019.

Redefining and reinvigorating the role of physics in clinical medicine: A Report from the AAPM Medical Physics 3.0 Ad Hoc Committee.

Derived from 2 yr of deliberations and community engagement, Medical Physics 3.0 (MP3.0) is an effort commissioned by the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) to devise a framework of strategies by which medical physicists can maintain and improve their integral roles in, and contributions to, health care and its innovation under conditions of rapid change and uncertainty. Toward that goal, MP3.0 advocates a broadened and refreshed model of sustainable excellence by which medical physicists can and should contribute to health care. The overarching conviction of MP3.0 is that every healthcare facility can benefit from medical physics and every patient's care can be improved by a medical physicist. This large and expansive challenge necessitates a range of strategies specific to each area of medical physics: clinical practice, research, product development, and education. The present paper offers a summary of the Phase 1 deliberations of the MP3.0 initiative pertaining to strategic directions of the discipline primarily but not exclusively oriented toward the clinical practice of medical physics in the United States.

A report from the AAPM Subcommittee on Guidelines for Competency Evaluation for Clinical Medical Physicists in Radiation Oncology.

The goal of this report is to provide a framework from which an institution can develop a competency and credentialing program. It is not intended to be adopted as written, but rather as a list of suggestions from which the institution develops their program. A clear distinction should be made between the initial evaluation of the competency of new staff (credentialing) and the ongoing verification of the competency of existing staff. Furthermore, whenever new technologies are imple-mented, the entire staff would be subject to the credentialing process. Competencies involve the ongoing verification of the performance of a procedure according to the established policies and procedures at a facility. This can be done by audits of work product, direct observation of performance, self-evaluation, or testing. PACS number(s): 87.10.-e, 87.90.+y

Code of Ethics for the American Association of Physicists in Medicine: report of Task Group 109.

A comprehensive Code of Ethics for the members of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) is presented as the report of Task Group 109 which consolidates previous AAPM ethics policies into a unified document. The membership of the AAPM is increasingly diverse. Prior existing AAPM ethics polices were applicable specifically to medical physicists, and did not encompass other types of members such as health physicists, regulators, corporate affiliates, physicians, scientists, engineers, those in training, or other health care professionals. Prior AAPM ethics policies did not specifically address research, education, or business ethics. The Ethics Guidelines of this new Code of Ethics have four major sections: professional conduct, research ethics, education ethics, and business ethics. Some elements of each major section may be duplicated in other sections, so that readers interested in a particular aspect of the code do not need to read the entire document for all relevant information. The prior Complaint Procedure has also been incorporated into this Code of Ethics. This Code of Ethics (PP 24-A) replaces the following AAPM policies: Ethical Guidelines for Vacating a Position (PP 4-B); Ethical Guidelines for Reviewing the Work of Another Physicist (PP 5-C); Guidelines for Ethical Practice for Medical Physicists (PP 8-D); and Ethics Complaint Procedure (PP 21-A). The AAPM Board of Directors approved this Code or Ethics on July 31, 2008.

AAPM Task Group 103 report on peer review in clinical radiation oncology physics.

This report provides guidelines for a peer review process between two clinical radiation oncology physicists. While the Task Group's work was primarily focused on ensuring timely and productive independent reviews for physicists in solo practice, these guidelines may also be appropriate for physicists in a group setting, particularly when dispersed over multiple separate clinic locations. To ensure that such reviews enable a collegial exchange of professional ideas and productive critique of the entire clinical physics program, the reviews should not be used as an employee evaluation instrument by the employer. Such use is neither intended nor supported by this Task Group. Detailed guidelines are presented on the minimum content of such reviews, as well as a recommended format for reporting the findings of a review. In consideration of the full schedules faced by most clinical physicists, the process outlined herein was designed to be completed in one working day.