certificate or AA

mullen1200 · Joined: 26 Mar 2008 Posts: 7 Location: Atlanta

Well... general education courses... history math etc?? You think that helps with patient care or something similar? Unless you have really poor communication skills I dont see how these are going to help you much. That aside, I really wasnt trying to have an ego about it. we've had something like 400 graduates and we've never had someone fail the boards on their first attempt. About the college thing, its really just local. I've heard terrible things from other schools , from their own students. Mostly about not getting in enough clinical time, or different rotations.

"None of this is available through a certificate program"

I assume you were just talking about the general education courses. If you think thats important, then we'll just agree to disagree.

papa · Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2008 6:19 pm Post subject:

not really the patient care parts, but more of the global scale. for instance, i didn't take history, i took sociology and psycology. so basically, i can look at someones background, and find an easier (and maybe sometimes better) way of aproaching a situation.

for example, i've got a patient who has come into the er. visiting from a forigen country, where there is not a lot of medical technology. i can use the information i learned in sociology to understand the society he came from, and understand that the "big machines" can be a little intimidating (especially in CT and MRI).

knowing this, how am i going to approach this patient? what can i do to help him/her understand that what we're going to do to them will not hurt them. with me, all they see is this giant piece of machinery, and me in my lab coat with a drawrer full of needles. that's where my psych classes come in handy.

should these be required? maybe not. some people come by these skills naturally. and i'm sure we could go on for days about all the skills you'd "learn" associated with an associates degree.

fact of the matter is, what kind of documentation do you have to back yourself up with? i look at this as the arrt is trying to help us. when you go to get your car worked on, you should be making sure that the mechanics are certifyied in what they do. if not, the work they do may not be acurate. i'm not saying that the piece of paper guarentees that they do good work, but they have been trained to do so.

the associates degree puts the technologists into that profesional plane. it tends to differentiate the difference between a technologist and a technician. when you're applying for a job, especially in this type of economy, you want to be as professional as you can, and have as much documented formal training as possible. from an employer's prospective, the certificate just doesn't hold up to the degree.

and yes, it does just boil down to "just a piece of paper" (quote from unnamed family member)
_________________
Mr. Green

papa RT(R)(CT) Mr. Green

http://sites.google.com/site/delusionalradiology

never meddle in the affairs of a dragon, for you are crunchy, and taste good with ketchup

mullen1200 · Joined: 26 Mar 2008 Posts: 7 Location: Atlanta

the certificate never mattered. The boards/national license does. I believe there are many (correct me, I could be wrong), college programs that arent Jcert approved. Yet my program is. It seems there are standards that collide here. My teacher told me today that to teach these radiology programs that you have to have a masters of some sort, and he's almost finished getting his. Our second teacher already has hers, but I'm not sure who this "rule" applies to. I had never heard of it until he told us just the other day.

There are so many new rules floating around, its a bit weird. Anyways, Im really not trying to butt heads, I hope you guys know that. Hell i've been in the program for just a couple weeks now. Its a 40 hour a week job though, pretty intense testing already. Its a new experience for me. Check this out, I get a week off for christmas, and minor holidays off. Other then that, I dont get another week off for 18 months after christmas break (Unless you take a personal day/sick day).

on the AART website it said that they will have alternatives to taking the boards every 10 years, any idea what these could be? I know everyone has there CEU's at the moment. I'm wondering if it will just be a much heavier load of them. I dont envy the idea of taking my boards all over again a few times.

hjhogle · Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2008 8:48 pm Post subject:

The national certification ( which is not a license) matters. If you're in a licensure state, the state license matters. There is no national license.

To be eligible to take the national certification exam, what matters is that you graduate from an accredited radiography program .. doesn't matter if it's a degree program or a certificate program. If you are currently enrolled in a non-accredited program (college or otherwise), you will not be eligible to take the national exam.

However, in January 2015, this will change. In order to be eligible to take the national exam, the candidate must graduate from an accredited program AND have earned (at least) an AA degree from an accredited institution. This does not mean that you must earn an AA in radiography. And it does not mean that certificate-based programs will go away.

You could earn an AA in social work. Then decide to go into radiography, attend an accredited certificate-based program and be eligible to sit for the exam. I suspect that it DOES mean that certificate-based programs will only accept students who already have an associate or bachelors degree.

And, according to the JCERT, the only faculty who must hold a Masters level degree (at a minimum) is the Program Director. A F/T Clinical Coordinator must hold, at a minimum, a baccalaureate degree. (Want to see where this came from? Here - http://www.jrcert.org/pdfs/accreditation_process/standards/standards_%20for_an_accredited_educational_program_in_radiologic_sciences.pdf)

Any institution sets its own standards, and may set its standards higher than the JCERT. The program has every right to insist that its faculty demonstrate a commitment to higher education with advanced degrees.

hjh, RT

Also, in response to this - "on the AART website it said that they will have alternatives to taking the boards every 10 years, any idea what these could be? I know everyone has there CEU's at the moment. I'm wondering if it will just be a much heavier load of them. I dont envy the idea of taking my boards all over again a few times."

The ARRT website (http://www.arrt.org) doesn't say that they will have alternatives to taking the boards every 10 years. What it does say is that taking the entry-level exam may not be the only option. It also goes on to say that requirements for CQ/2011 are not finalized, and that "We can’t be more definitive at this time, because the program is in the very early stages of development." and "We’re researching the best methods of assessing continued qualifications".

So we're all going to have to wait to find out what the consequences of CQ/2011 will be. In the meantime, as the information on the ARRT website makes clear, "All certifications awarded prior to 2011 and maintained as currently registered are exempt from the CQ/2011 requirements". So as long as you complete whatever program you're in, pass the national exam and are awarded your certification in the next 2 years, you're exempt.

hjh, RT

papa · Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 1:23 pm Post subject:

so, correct me if i'm wrong...

those of us registered before 2011 are grandfathered in, and don't have to retake the boards as long as we keep up on our ce's?
_________________
Mr. Green

papa RT(R)(CT) Mr. Green

http://sites.google.com/site/delusionalradiology

never meddle in the affairs of a dragon, for you are crunchy, and taste good with ketchup