Ethics and professionalism in French medical physicist community: survey results and implications.
PO-1104
Abstract
Ethics and professionalism in French medical physicist community: survey results and implications.
Authors: Catherine DEJEAN1,2, Albert LISBONA3, Matthieu MOREAU4, Jean-Léon LAGRANGE5, Florence HUGUET6, Thibaud HAASER7, Arnaud DIEUDONNE8
1Centre Antoine-Lacassagne, Medical physics unit, NICE, France; 2French Society of Medical Physicists, SFPM, PARIS, France; 3Institut de Cancérologie de l'Ouest, Medical Physics Department, Saint Herblain, France; 4Clinique Mutualiste de l'Estuaire, Medical Physics Unit, Saint Nazaire, France; 5French Society of Radiation Oncologists, SFRO, PARIS, France; 6Hôpital Tenon, Radiation oncology department, PARIS, France; 7Hôpital Haut-Lévêque - CHU de Bordeaux, Radiation oncology department, PESSAC, France; 8Centre Henri Becquerel, Medical Physics Unit, ROUEN, France
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Purpose or Objective
Integrity, skills, responsibility, respect of the patient by being honest and trustworthy are the pillars of health professions. Since 2019, a strong bond already existed between French radiation oncologist (SFRO) ethics commission including RTT, medical physicist, philosopher, psychologist… and French medical physicist society (SFPM) but thus far in France, ethics in medical physics is not implemented via scientific organization. To have a snapshot of the situation and of the need of French medical physicists, a survey based on AAPM work (Ozturk 2013) was conducted by SFPM.
Material and Methods
A comprehensive web-based survey that captured the current state of practice concerning ethics and professionalism for medical physicists was provided. Parameters were adapted to the French educational system and European legal context. The survey consisted of five sections: i) demographics, ii) initial and continuous training, iii) experiences with ethically/professionally questionable practices in clinical, iv) research and educational settings, v) positioning concerning ethics training. An open commentary was also provided.
Results
249 answers were received (57% male, 42,6% female, 0,4% other; median age 38,5y). PhD was present for 39,4% of the respondents. Vast majority was working in France (94,8%), 2,8% in Europe.
Majority of the respondents are male graduated with a master degree, trained and working in France, mean age 40,5years and 13,7 mean years of professional experience.
Lack of specific training concerning ethics and/or professionalism during Master (92% of negative responses) was highlighted. This percentage is slightly lower (86% of negative responses) for the dedicated professional specialization year. Ethics should be part of the initial training for 92% of the respondents and of continuous education for 73%.
Direct personal knowledge of unethical or questionable behaviour was always quoted, mainly hostile work environment (56,6%), followed by favouritism (55%).
Close to 92% of the respondents state the importance of ethics being a part of initial training and 73% part of continuous training. Among them, 83% would be interested in attending dedicated workshop or seminars.
Conclusion
To meet the expectations of French medical physicists, SFPM has created a working group on ethics and professionalism. In its scope is the definition of a code of ethics in the dynamic of the already existing codes. It will work particularly on initial and continuous training to include in a better way ethics in medical physicist profession. Publications issued from the pluriprofessional dynamic [e.g., Haaser, 2020] disseminate Ethics considerations in the community.
[Ozturk, 2013] Ozturk N, Armato S, Giger ML, et al. Ethics and professionalism in medical physics: a survey of AAPM members. Med Phys. 2013
[Haaser, 2020] Haaser T, Constantinidès Y, Dejean C, et al.; pour la Commission éthique de la SFRO. [Health democracy: Patient partnership]. Cancer Radiother. 2020