Assessment of workforce availability, staffing, and education, and training requirements for radiographers across Europe : EU-REST project

Abstract

This presentation provides an overview of the EU-REST (European Union Radiation Education, Staffing & Training) project, a 24-month initiative funded by the European Commission (contract HaDEA/2022/OP/0003) that ran from September 2022 to August 2024. It analyzes workforce availability, education, and training needs for radiographers to ensure quality and safety in medical applications involving ionizing radiation across the 27 EU member states. Key elements include project aims (e.g., developing staffing and education guidelines), objectives (e.g., data collection and analysis), work packages (covering data analysis, guideline drafting, and recommendations), a 7-step workload-based staffing framework, education recommendations (e.g., EQF Level 6 as minimum entry standard with 180 ECTS), and urgent recommendations such as harmonized workforce calculations and national registries. Dissemination references include the project's final report and related peer-reviewed articles.