Radiology Forums

papa · Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 9:31 am Post subject:

ok, this just bugs me....

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/technician

Funny Bones · Joined: 09 Sep 2006 Posts: 21

I'm a second year student and work PRN at an ortho clinic where the lead tech is an LPT. He's more competent than many RT's that I work with at my hospital. He went through one of those technical school programs as mentioned above and has accumulated over five years experience.

The thing is... He's stuck as an LPT. To get his RT, he's gotta' go back through a 2-year program.

And personally, I don't have an issue with the whole "technician" vs "technologist" labeling thing.

hjhogle · Moderator Joined: 23 May 2006 Posts: 608 Location: CT

One of the functions of an LPT is to allow facilities and physician offices to stay within the letter of the law, yet avoid paying for a fully-licensed imager. Potential for abuse of the position is high, and there are few, if any checks in place to prevent it. (Abuse not meaning assault on the employee with the limited license .. abuse meaning allowing/encouraging the employee to perform outside their scope of practice). "Quick" techs have neither the education nor experience needed when exposing the public to ionizing radiaton - a priority of the professional imager.

Having an LPT does not qualify someone to use the RT certification - that's why the certifications are not interchangable. Of course an LPT would have to complete an additional program in order to become eligible to take the national certification exam.

While your LPT may have accumulated 5 years experience as a limited technician in a orthopedic office, that simply qualifies him to work in an orthopedic office. It hardly prepares him for the variety of demands placed on an RT. If I wanted to interpret radiographs, I'd have to go to medical school - having accumulated 30 years of related experience would not entitle me to skip that.

There have been numerous similar threads in this forum and others. It is rare to find a radiographer (nationally certified RT) who supports limited licensure.