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The perceptions of medical physicists towards relevance and impact of artificial intelligence

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Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) is an innovative tool with the potential to impact medical physicists’ clinical practices, research, and the profession. The relevance of AI and its impact on the clinical practice and routine of professionals in medical physics were evaluated by medical physicists and researchers in this field. An online survey questionnaire was designed for distribution to professionals and students in medical physics around the world. In addition to demographics questions, we surveyed opinions on the role of AI in medical physicists’ practices, the possibility of AI threatening/disrupting the medical physicists’ practices and career, the need for medical physicists to acquire knowledge on AI, and the need for teaching AI in postgraduate medical physics programmes. The level of knowledge of medical physicists on AI was also consulted. A total of 1019 respondents from 94 countries participated. More than 85% of the respondents agreed that AI would play an essential role in medical physicists’ practices. AI should be taught in the postgraduate medical physics programmes, and that more applications such as quality control (QC), treatment planning would be performed by AI. Half of the respondents thought AI would not threaten/disrupt the medical physicists’ practices. AI knowledge was mainly acquired through self-taught and work-related activities. Nonetheless, many (40%) reported that they have no skill in AI. The general perception of medical physicists was that AI is here to stay, influencing our practices. Medical physicists should be prepared with education and training for this new reality.

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Data availability

The data may be made available if requested.

Abbreviations

AAPM:

American Association of Physicists in Medicine

ACPSEM:

Australasian College of Physical Scientists and Engineers in Medicine

AFOMP:

Asia-Oceania Federation of Organizations for Medical Physics

ALFIM:

Asociación Latinoamericana de Física Médica

EFOMP:

European Federation of Organisations for Medical Physics

FAMPO:

Federation of African Medical Physics Organizations

IOMP:

International Organization for Medical Physics

IPEM:

Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine

MEFOMP:

Middle East Federation of Medical Physics

SEAFOMP:

South East Asian Federation of Organizations for Medical Physics

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Acknowledgements

We thank the following organisations for publicising and disseminating the survey: AAPM, ACPSEM, AFOMP, ALFIM, EFOMP, FAMPO, IOMP, IPEM, MEFOMP, and SEAFOMP. We also thank all the respondents who supported this survey.

Funding

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nuclear Physics, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Josilene C. Santos

  2. Department of Biomedical Imaging, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Jeannie Hsiu Ding Wong & Kwan Hoong Ng

  3. Medical Education and Research Development Unit, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Vinod Pallath

Authors
  1. Josilene C. Santos
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  2. Jeannie Hsiu Ding Wong
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  3. Vinod Pallath
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  4. Kwan Hoong Ng
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Contributions

KHN, JCS, VP conceived the idea, designed and executed the survey. JHDW analysed the data. JCS, JHDW, KHN, and VP prepared, edited the manuscript and approved the final submitted manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jeannie Hsiu Ding Wong.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest

Ethics approval

This research was approved by the University of Malaya Research Ethics Committee (UM.TNC 2/UMREC).

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the survey.

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Appendix

Appendix

 

Please rate your agreement with the following questions:

*Answer range from: 1(Strongly agree) to 5 (Strongly disagree)

1

AI will play an important role in the practice of medical physicists.*

2

More and more applications such as quality control, treatment planning will be performed by AI.*

3

In my opinion, AI will threaten/disrupt the medical physicists’ practices and career.*

4

All medical physicists should acquire at least some basic knowledge of AI.*

5

AI should be taught in the postgraduate medical physics programme.*

6

I have a basic understanding of AI (relevant to my field).*

7

I have a working knowledge of AI (relevant to my field).*

8

I have relevant skills in AI.*

9

I am proficient in AI (able to design, code and implement).*

10

I understand the limitations of AI.*

11

My knowledge of AI is:

 A

Self-taught

 B

Learned by attending courses

 C

Learned from postgraduate training

 D

Learned from work-related activites

 E

No knowledge

12

My skill in AI is developed through:

 A

Self-taught

 B

Learned by attending courses

 C

Learned from postgraduate training

 D

No skill

13

I am ready to learn and apply AI in my practice. *

 

Tell us about you:

14

I am:

 A

Male

 B

Female

15

My age is:

[Free number replies, acceptable from 18 to 100 years old]

16

My highest qualification(s) attained:

 A

PhD

 B

Master

 C

Bachelor

 D

Board certification

17

I am currently a/an:

 A

Academic physicist

 B

Clinical physicist

 C

Postgraduate student

 D

Trainee/resident

 E

Retired

 F

Other

18

I am affiliated with:

 A

University

 B

Hospital

 C

Research institute

 D

Government agency

 E

Regulatory body

 F

Consultancy

 G

Other

19

I am from

[Choose one option from countries of the world]

20

Your comment (if any):

[Free text replies]

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Cite this article

Santos, J.C., Wong, J.H.D., Pallath, V. et al. The perceptions of medical physicists towards relevance and impact of artificial intelligence. Phys Eng Sci Med 44, 833–841 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13246-021-01036-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13246-021-01036-9

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