| Categories: MRI Accreditation | Author: Resonant Healthcare Imaging Solutions | 0
During the MRI accreditation process, your facility was required to show that all technical staff met certain experience, training, and continuing education requirements and could provide supporting documentation proving such. To maintain your accreditation, you must ensure that each technical staff member keeps their documentation current and continues to meet all requirements established by the accreditation organization.
MRI technologists can satisfy the education, experience, and training requirements of their facility’s accreditation organization by maintaining registration with a medical imaging credentialing organization, such as the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists (ARRT). In fact, the American College of Radiology (ACR) recommends that technologists “be certified and actively registered in the modality they perform.” Additionally, ACR recommends that MRI technologists should be licensed to practice in their state, if a state licensure program exists.
Registration and licensing indicates that MRI technologists have met or exceeded professional education requirements for the credentialing organization, including didactic and clinical competency. According to the ARRT, meeting didactic competency requirements shows that an MRI technologist “had the opportunity to develop fundamental knowledge, integrate theory into practice, and hone affective and critical thinking skills required to demonstrate professional competency.”
Clinical competency, according to the ARRT, means that the MRI technologist “has performed the procedure independently, consistently, and effectively during the course of his or her formal education.” There are several areas of clinical competence that ARRT-certified MRI technologists must master, including:
If your MRI technologists are registered with a credentialing organization, they will have already demonstrated their competence in these areas. However, ACR requires that non-registered MRI technologists be evaluated by a “responsible physician” to ensure competence. Many facilities use a checklist that includes a date and signature for each area of clinical competence, but it is a good idea to reach out to your MRI accreditation consultant / coordinator to make sure the evaluation method you are using satisfies all requirements of your accreditation organization.
As a condition of registration with a credentialing organization, MRI technologists must remain in compliance with the organization’s continuing education requirements. Although requirements may vary depending on the accreditation organization, ACR requires technologists who are not registered with a credentialing organization to complete 24 hours of continuing education every two years.
An MRI accreditation consultant / coordinator can help you to determine which continuing education requirements your facility’s MRI technologists and other staff members need and work with you to develop policies and procedures to ensure that the requirements are met and properly documented.
Your facility must keep a record of each MRI technologist’s registration with a credentialing organization or have a document signed and dated by a responsible physician showing that the MRI technologist was determined to be competent in all clinical competency areas. You also will need to keep track of the continuing education activities of all MRI technologists.
It is very important that your facility keeps close tabs on this information in case of a surprise onsite audit. Your facility should have a copy of the relevant information in each MRI technologist’s personnel folder, but it also is a good idea to make a second copy and keep it in a “MRI audit file” for easier access. You also may need to provide registration and continuing education information to your MRI accreditation organization during the renewal process.
Depending on the number of technical staff members working at your facility, keeping track of registration and continuing education requirements can be a lot to juggle. Many facilities hire an MRI accreditation consultant / coordinator to help them develop processes and procedures for monitoring registration and continuing education requirements for their MRI technologists and other personnel.
If you have questions about clinical competencies for MRI technical staff or are interested in developing a program to track of personnel registration, licensing, and continuing education at your facility, our MRI specialists can help. For more information or to speak with one of our MRI accreditation experts, call 877.938.5665 or click here to contact us. For more information or to speak with a Resonant expert, contact us.
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