Should Engineers Be Licensed Like Doctors?

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Should Engineers Be Licensed Like Doctors?
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Medical Physicist

• Medical Physicist
• Some people do nuclear medicine, others do
  diagnostic radiology (CT, x-rays, magnetic
  resonance), others do radiation protection, and
  other (like me) do radiation therapy physics (for
  cancer treatment). (Gonzalez, J. Sept. 10th,
  2003)

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Radiation Therapy

• Among other things, I have to calculate if the
  amount of radiation it was delivering was in
  agreement with measured data.
• An incorrectly calibrated machine may cause
  serious side effects, including death.

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Radiation Therapy

• For this machines, we have a series of daily
  checks, weekly checks, monthly and yearly checks.
  For the daily checks, you could be a technician
  or a dosimetrist. For the weekly checks, you
  could be a dosimtrists or a physicist with
  training in using the equipment. For the monthly
  checks, you must be a medical physicist. The
  certification usually depends on national
  regulations. For example, in the US, to be a
  certified Medical Physicist you must have a
  masters degree and 2 years of experience working
  with a senior medical physicist. Then you have
  to pass board exams.

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Prostate Seed Implants

• In my case, we also do treatment planning, dose
  calculation, dose verification, Brach therapy for
  cervix, cancer treatment simulation and maybe one
  or two other things.
• Brachytherapy is a treatment modality on which we
  place radioactive isotopes very close to the
  target tissue. There are prostate implants, for
  example, or cesium capsules that are placed
  inside the vaginal cavity to treat some forms of
  vaginal and uterine cancer. In Panama we use
  cesium and we got a new machine called a High
  Dose Rate machine that works with Iridium.

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Death vs. Disaster

• Direct Effect on Human Life
• Responsibility
• Individual Life
• Lives of many
• Example
• 2003 Blackout

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DISASTER

• On August 24th 1992, Hurricane Andrew struck an
  unprepared South Florida and demolished entire
  neighborhoods. Poorly designed houses were torn
  apart. 250,000 people were left homeless. Ten
  years later, a new building code was put in place.

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Mechanical Engineering
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Energy Industry
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Automobile Industry
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Aeronautic Industry
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Nuclear Engineering

• Aspects of Nuclear Engineering are well regulated
• Operator License is required to transport, store,
  and operate nuclear fuel
• Design of is restricted concerning nuclear
  material.

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Nuclear License

• Designed structures affecting public safety must
  be certified by a P.E.
• Operators are licensed but other engineers are
  not.
• There are maintenance engineering jobs as well as
  some design work that do not require P.E.
  certification.

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The Melt-Down

• Having licensed engineers or certified P.Es
  improves the integrity of the designed or
  maintained product and reduces costs.
• Design work concerning public and environmental
  safety should require a license.
• Other design engineers should not have to be
  licensed to prevent over-regulation.