30 April 2020
The British Institute of Radiology (BIR) and the Institute of Physics & Engineering in Medicine (IPEM) have agreed to fund member involvement in the work of international standards in the field of imaging (IPEM are also separately funding involvement in engineering areas). The areas under consideration at present are International Electro-technical Commission (IEC) standards and involvement with the DICOM WG-28 (the “physics” group).
IEC standards are the basis for how all imaging equipment is designed and manufactured and the DICOM WG-28 “physics” group has been instrumental in developing patient dose information transfer from imaging equipment to enable separate software analysis of patient dose (both at an individual and collective level). It is important for our professional institutes to engage with these processes, as the results impact on all aspects of imaging science.
Currently Mark Knight (IPEM) and Andy Rogers (BIR) are working with a small group to develop an oversight process to enable the money pledged to be spent wisely and to ensure an open and transparent route for members to represent BIR-IPEM on international groups. When the appropriate governance assurance system is established BIR and IPEM members will be invited to get involved in the genuinely worthwhile and challenging arena of international standards development.
