Medical physics 1.
2019-2020. 1st semester

In accordance with the widespread involvement of physical principles and methods in almost all areas of medical sciences, this compulsory course offers an introduction to applications of physics in medicine and clinical research.

The physics syllabus is designed to facilitate the understanding of certain phenomena in the physiology of the human body (kinetics of the body, muscle function, circulation, respiration, sensing, transport phenomena) by studying the underlying physical principles.

The 2 hours/week physics lecture is accompanied by 2 hours/fortnight seminars. These seminars are dedicated to discussing lecture material and clarifying the questions that may arise.

There is a five-grade written examination covering the material of lectures, seminars and the relevant chapters of the obligatory textbooks at the end of both semesters. Assessment is based on the material covered in the lectures and seminars and on the relevant chapters of the obligatory reading.

Attendance of the lectures is strongly recommended; downloading the lecture slides cannot substitute for the participation at the lecture. We perform attendance checks regularly.

To complete this course successfully, one needs to have a certain grasp of the fundamentals of physics. We shall check students’ knowledge in the first two weeks of the semester and offer the course Fundamentals of medical physics to those whose scores are lower in order to help them brush up their physics skills.

The lectures are complemented by biweekly seminars whose aim is to help students reach a deeper understanding of the lecture material. Attending seminars is obligatory and active participation is expected. In duly justified cases (disruptive behaviour, blatant passivity or lack of preparedness) the seminar instructor has the right to refuse the student’s further participation and register the student as absent.

Students can have no more than two absences with leave from the seminars. Seminar absences are to be made up for according to the directions of the instructor.

To check if students are prepared, we shall set a short test at the beginning of each seminar. The basis of the seminar tests is the material covered in the previous seminar and the topic list and sample questions available in the CooSpace scene of the course. All seminar tests consist of 3 multiple-choice questions (each worth 1 point) and a single calculation task (worth 2 points).

Only students who have gained the approval of the instructor for their seminar work and achieved at least 20% in the seminar tests (that is, 6 points out of the semester total of 25 points) are eligible to take the examination. If a student fails to meet this, they must take a seminar resit, in which the passing mark is 50%. Failing the resit means they cannot register for an examination and have to repeat the whole course.

The seminar totals will be converted to examination points as follows:

The course is worth 2 credits, awarded on the basis of an end-semester examination. Students take a computer-aided multiple-choice test examination at the end of the semester. 25% of test questions cover the material of the seminars, 25% of them consist of fundamental physics questions and 50% of them are medical physics questions. Students have to sign up for the examination through the Neptun system. Examination registrations are finalised automatically 24 hours before the examination. Repetition of examinations is according to the general regulations of the Study and the Examination Requirements of the University. No first examinations are allowed during the resit week of the examination period.

At the examination a maximum of 35 points can be achieved, to which the 5 points obtainable from the seminars are added, making a total of 40 points. Grades of the examination are determined as follows:

• 0–20 points: failed (1)
• 21–25 points: passed (2)
• 26–30 points: accepted (3)
• 31–35 points: good (4)
• 36-40 points: excellent (5)

Students who are registered as present at at least 50% of the attendance checks will receive the better mark when lacking just one point: eg, get a passed (2) for 20 points.