Student posters celebrate medical imaging profession
October 27, 2005
KOKOMO, Ind.—The 23 students currently taking Associate of Science in Radiography classes at Indiana University Kokomo will mark National Radiologic Technology Week, November 6–12, by displaying educational posters at area hospitals and in the lobby of the campus' science center, Virgil and Elizabeth Hunt Hall.
The campus has many reasons to join in the celebration. The week honors the health care contributions of medical imaging and radiation therapy professionals, including the 11 IU Kokomo alumni who received the campus's first A.S. in Radiography degrees last May. The graduates earned their professional certification as radiographers, by passing the National Registry examination, “with exceptionally high scores,” according to Assistant Professor of Radiography Heidi Thomason, B.S.R.T.(R.)(C.T.) The IU Kokomo graduates scored an average 91.7 percent on the National Registry exam, with all of them scoring above the national average of 84.6 percent.
“And, they all have found employment as radiographers in north central Indiana,” she added. Radiographers are certified medical imaging technologists who use X rays to create images that physicians interpret to diagnose disease and injuries. The Indiana Society of Radiologic Technologists' Web site states that starting salaries for such technologists in the state average $15–$20 per hour.
Even higher wages and employment demand await future graduates of IU Kokomo's Bachelor of Science in Medical Imaging Technology degree program. Approved last spring, the program anticipates accepting its first students in spring 2006 semester.
Thomason said several posters will promote Congressional passage of the Consumer Assurance of Radiologic Excellence, or CARE bill. Similar to the Mammography Quality Standards Act passed by Congress in 1994, the CARE bill ould “ensure that patients undergoing all types of radiologic procedures have the same assurance of quality as those receiving mammograms,” Thomason said. Drafted by the American Society of Radiologic Technologists (ASRT), the bill calls for all states to set uniform standards for the basic education and certification of health care workers who administer radiologic procedures. Such standards would address key ASRT concerns, such as protecting patients from overexposure to radiation during radiologic procedures, and reducing health care costs, Thomason said.
IU Kokomo introduced its Radiologic Sciences program in 2002 in response to the growing use of medical imaging in health care and the continuing introduction of new imaging technology. Patients who question the number of medical imaging procedures doctors might order must consider how complementary imaging modalities can give the “a much better handle on how to treat problems,” said Clinical Assistant Professor Gary Randle, M.S.R.T.(R.) The different imaging procedures he'll teach in the B.S. program “are all diagnostic tools, but one modality might be better for examining soft tissues of the body,” Randle said. “One might be better for bones.” Using a series of images, a doctor can “look at a disease's progression and prognosis,” he said.
Several area medical facilities have helped IU Kokomo's radiography program succeed by allowing clinical courses to be taught in their imaging departments. Students who have gained practical experience working with real patients in clinical sites are now employees of those facilities, Thomason said. “They include 2005 graduates Christina O'Donnell, working at Duke's Memorial Hospital in Peru; Joanna Tharp, working at Howard Regional Health Care in Kokomo; Jamie Groover, working at Woodlawn Hospital in Rochester; and Brad Rawls, working at Arnett Clinic in Lafayette.”
Radiographers work in hospitals, clinics, imaging centers, physicians' offices, and emergency centers, as well as in veterinary medicine. An ASRT Wage and Salary Survey in 2004 showed that radiologic technologists nationwide earn an average hourly wage of $24.16 and an annual salary of $65,401. Those figures represent increases of 19.7 percent and 26.5 percent respectively since 2001.
Lyndsay Adams of Kokomo, right, discusses her poster with Assistant Professor of Radiography Heidi Thomason.
|
