The current status of education and career paths of students after completion of medical physicist programs in Japan: a survey by the Japanese Board for Medical Physicist Qualification

To standardize educational programs and clinical training for medical physics students, the Japanese Board for Medical Physicist Qualification (JBMP) began to accredit master’s, doctorate, and residency programs for medical physicists in 2012. At present, 16 universities accredited by the JBMP offer 22 courses. In this study, we aimed to survey the current status of educational programs and career paths of students after completion of the medical physicist program in Japan. A questionnaire was sent in August 2014 to 32 universities offering medical physicist programs. The questionnaire was created and organized by the educational course certification committee of the JBMP and comprised two sections: the first collected information about the university attended, and the second collected information about characteristics and career paths of students after completion of medical physicist programs from 2008 to 2014. Thirty universities (16 accredited and 14 non-accredited) completed the survey (response rate 94 %). A total of 209, 40, and 3 students graduated from the master’s, doctorate, and residency programs, respectively. Undergraduates entered the medical physicist program constantly, indicating an interest in medical physics among undergraduates. A large percentage of the students held a bachelor’s degree in radiological technology (master’s program 94 %; doctorate program 70 %); graduates obtained a national radiological technologist license. Regarding career paths, although the number of the graduates who work as medical physicist remains low, 7 % with a master’s degree and 50 % with a doctorate degree worked as medical physicists. Our results could be helpful for improving the medical physicist program in Japan.