Teaching and Learning in Medical Physics: The new "Compendium to Radiation Physics for Medical Physicists" by E. B. Podgoršak

Teaching as well as learning always requires good textbooks. Good textbooks on medical physics have been written or edited by a series of authors and are now well available. With reference to medical physics in radiation oncology one could especially mention the two more recently published and well known textbooks: "Radiation Oncology Physics: A Handbook for Teachers and Students" edited by E. B. Podgoršak and issued by the International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna in 2005, and the "Handbook for Radiotherapy Physics - Theory and Practice" edited by P. Mayles, A. Nahum, and J. C. Rosenwald and published by Taylor & Francis in 2007. In both books the text material has been developed with the assistance of a large number of contributing specialist authors from multiple continents under the expert guidance of the editors.

In addition and equally important, successful learning also requires continuous exercising. In this context the new recommendations of the European Parliament and Council regarding qualification appear quite important. These recommendations have introduced a new terminology and a new qualifications framework for Europe called the "European Qualifications Framework" (EQF). A key characteristic of that EQF is that qualification levels are defined in terms of learning outcomes, and that these learning outcomes are expressed as inventories of knowledge, skills and competences (KSC). The term "skills" refer to that type of qualification which must be acquired by exercises and training.

Consequently, books containing exercises and training material are needed as urgent as textbooks comprising the knowledge in the field. Now we have indeed such a relatively new book in Medical Physics: The "Compendium to Radiation Physics for Medical Physicists" written by E. B. Podgoršak and published by Springer in 2014. The following text is taken from its preface:

This book is intended as a supplementary textbook for a radiation physics course in academic medical physics and biomedical engineering graduate programs as well as a reference book for candidates preparing for certification examinations in medical physics subspecialties. The book may also be of interest to graduate students in physics, chemistry, and various branches of engineering wishing to improve their knowledge and understanding of modern physics and its intimate relationship with radiation physics applied to medicine.

The book contains 129 specific sections grouped into 14 chapters. Each section contains one or more long questions that consist of several shorter questions related to the subject material of the specific section. The chapters and sections of this textbook follow the layout of the textbook: "Radiation Physics for Medical Physicists" published by Springer in 2010 and the 300 solved problems presented in this book are intended to provide supplementary information to the radiation physics textbook through examples relevant to the topics discussed in individual sections of the textbook.

A last remark: Having made the differentiation between gaining knowledge and gaining skills it is interesting to realize that this book "can also stand on its own as a radiation physics textbook serving as a tool for learning radiation physics through perusing a series of solved radiation physics problems". The following question is a nice example for that: "Betatrons typically operated in the 25 MV x-ray mode. When 25 MV linacs were introduced into clinical service, the percentage depth doses they produced in water were significantly shallower than those produced by 25 MV betatrons. How was this surprising finding explained and rectified?"

I am sure that it may happen that even more experienced medical physicists not immediately know the answer and, accordingly, can improve their knowledge using this book.

In summary, I consider this new "Compendium to Radiation Physics for Medical Physicists" as a really significant enrichment for all involved in teaching Medical Physics.

Prof. Dr. Guenther Hartmann
DKFZ Heidelberg
European Federation of Organisations for Medical Physics
Past Chair Education & Training Committee