MS Medical Physics programme at PIEAS.

3. MS Medical Physics programme at PIEAS.

PIEAS has been ranked as the best engineering university in Pakistan by the higher education commission in the country [5]. It currently offers 9 Master (MS level) programmes (table 1); in addition to these all the departments offer PhD programmes. Currently there are more than 100 faculty members at PIEAS (40 faculty members are foreign qualified PhD’s). The faculty is involved in a wide variety of research and this has been widely acknowledged at the national and international level.

Table 1: MS courses offered by PIEAS

Name of the course Department Name

1. MS Medical Physics Department of Physics and Applied Mathematics. 2. M.Phil. Physics

Department of Physics and Applied Mathematics. 3. MS Process Engineering

Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering. 4. MS Mechanical Engineering

Department of Mechanical Engineering. 5. M.Sc. Nuclear Medicine

Department of Medical Sciences.

6. M.Sc. Radiation & Medical Oncology

Department of Medical Sciences.

7. MS System Engineering

Department of Electrical Engineering.

8. MS Nuclear Engineering

Department of Nuclear Engineering.

9. MS Materials Engineering Department of Computer and Information Sciences.

With the growth in the number of cancer hospitals, diagnostic radiology facilities and nuclear power plants the role of medical physicist has assumed more importance and a need was felt for highly qualified workforce. Therefore with the assistance and advice of IAEA With the growth in the number of cancer hospitals, diagnostic radiology facilities and nuclear power plants the role of medical physicist has assumed more importance and a need was felt for highly qualified workforce. Therefore with the assistance and advice of IAEA

Figure 1: Placement of Medical Physics graduates

Medical Physics Graduates are Serving in

Academics and Cancer Hospitals

Nuclear Power

3.1 Course structure of the MS Medical Physics Programme

It is 70 credit hour 2 year programme with 5 semesters. The first three semesters comprise of course work and the last 2 semester are reserved for Thesis project and clinical attachment at the allied hospitals

respectively. Before the start of 1 st semester a Zero semester is offered as a refresher course because the students usually come from diverse

background and may lack in few subjects. Semester wise course break up of the programme is given in table 2-7.

Table 2: Zero Semester courses

Zero Semester

Sr. No

Name of the course

Credit hours

1 Elementary Mathematics 04

2 Introduction to Nuclear Science and Technology

3 Computing Fundamentals 04

4 English 04

Table 3: Semester 1 courses

Semester 1

Sr. No

Name of the course

Credit hours

1 Radiation Detection and Interaction

2 Applied Mathematics 03

3 Computers in Medical Physics

4 Anatomy Physiology and Medical Terminology

5 Introduction to Nuclear Physics.

Table 4: Semester 2 courses

Semester 2

Sr. No

Name of the course

Credit hours

1 Biophysics and Radiation Biology

2 Physics of Radiology-I 03 3 Physics of Radiotherapy-I 03

4 Physics of Nuclear Medicine.

5 Radiation Protection and Health Physics

Table 5: Semester 3 courses

Semester 3

Sr. No

Name of the course

Credit hours

1 Physics of Radiology-II 03 2 Physics of Radiotherapy-II 03

3 Quantitative Analysis and data processing

4 Special Topics in Medical Physics

5 Radiation Detection and Protection lab

Table 6: Semester 4 courses

Semester 4

Sr. No

Name of the course

Credit hours

1 * Thesis Project

*The thesis projects are carried out at the allied hospitals, PIEAS and PINSTECH

Table 7: Semester 5 courses

Semester 5

Sr. No

Name of the course

Credit hours

1 * Clinical Attachment

*The clinical attachment is carried out at the allied hospitals and PINSTECH

The course work comprises of 15 courses. The faculty at PIEAS and faculty members from the allied hospitals like Nuclear Medicine Oncology and Radiotherapy Institute (NORI) and PINSTECH contribute in the delivery of these courses.

3.1.1 Thesis/Research Project Thesis projects are offered by the faculty in PIEAS and by various PAEC and private cancer hospitals. PINSTECH offers projects for the students who wish to specialize in Health physics. A project evaluation committee comprising of senior faculty members decides the allotment of projects, the department also assigns a Co-supervisor for each project. At the end of the research project the students are required to submit thesis based on the problem assigned to them. Thesis writing manuals are available to the students; however the department also offers help in this regard. Plagiarism and copyright are strictly discouraged and the department keeps strict vigil in this regard. Every student is required to sign a declaration of originality. The main research areas available to students are

• Mammography and X-ray. • Radiation Dosimetry. • Medical Imaging. •

Monte Carlo simulations. •

TLD and diode Dosimetry. •

Radiation therapy (Treatment Planning).

Additionally to submitting of a written thesis, the students also have to present their projects at an oral presentation in the department before the start of clinical attachment.

3.1.2 Clinical Attachment (Training) The clinical attachment which is carried out at the hospitals and PINSTECH serves as an on job training in medical/health physics. The students are assigned to work under the supervision of senior medical/health physicist. At the conclusion of the clinical attachment students are required to submit a written report along with an oral presentation.

3.1.3 Facilities available at PIEAS for Medical Physics

A wide variety of facilities are available for students of medical physics, these include

• Radiation detection lab •

Treatment Planning room • Gamma Camera •

Health Physics lab • Medical Physics lab.

The experiments performed at Detection lab are as follows.

• NaI(Tl) Detector •

Attenuation Coefficient & Build-up factor •

Surface Barrier Detector • BF3 Detector •

Characteristics of G.M Tube and measurement of half life

In the treatment planning room a Theraplan system is available for training the students about the various aspects of treatment planning. The department of Medical Sciences operates a gamma camera; this system is utilized to train students in the quality control of the gamma camera. The health physics lab provides the opportunity to study the various radiation monitors and decontamination procedures. The medical physics lab is equipped with a TLD system and a Diode system; both these systems are used for in Vivo Dosimetry. In addition ART phantom and Dosimetry set up is also available. In addition to these this lab has quality control kit for mammography and various other accessories.