N.Y. Education Law 8702 – Definition of “practice of medical physics”
§ 8702. Definition of "practice of medical physics". 1. The "practice of the profession of medical physics" shall mean the use and application of accepted principles and protocols of physics in a clinical setting to assure the correct quality, quantity and placement of radiation during the performance of a radiological procedure, so as to protect the patient and other persons from harmful, excessive or misapplied radiation. Such practice shall include, but not necessarily be limited to: radiation beam calibration and characterization; oversight and responsibility for patient radiation dose measurement, calculation and reporting; oversight and responsibility for quality control; instrument specification; optimization of image quality; acceptance testing; shielding design; protection analysis on radiation emitting equipment and radio-pharmaceuticals; and consultation with a physician to assure accurate radiation dosage and application to a specific patient.
Terms Used In N.Y. Education Law 8702
- Clinical: shall mean activities directly relating to the treatment or diagnosis of human ailments. See N.Y. Education Law 8701
- Medical physics: shall mean the branch of physics limited to the field of radiological physics. See N.Y. Education Law 8701
- Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
- Radiation: shall mean all ionizing radiation above background levels or any non-ionizing radiation used in diagnostic imaging or in radiation oncology. See N.Y. Education Law 8701
- Radiological procedure: shall mean any test, measurement, calculation or radiation exposure for the purpose of diagnosis or treatment of any medical condition of a human, including therapeutic radiation, diagnostic imaging and measurements, and nuclear medicine procedures. See N.Y. Education Law 8701
2. A license to practice medical physics shall be issued with special competency in one or more specialty areas in which the licensee has satisfied the requirements of section eighty-seven hundred five of this article.
3. The practice in any specialty by a person whose license is not issued with special competency for such specialty shall be deemed the unauthorized practice of the profession of medical physics.
4. Only a person licensed under this article shall practice the profession of medical physics.