42 Professional Development Policy

The purpose of professional development activity is to encourage professional traits and foster an understanding and appreciation of Professional Continuing Education while furthering radiologic knowledge, increasing technical communication skills, and increasing the student’s involvement in the profession.  The professional development activities allow the student to further investigate areas of interest or to review information in areas where the student is weak.  The activities are designed to integrate the skills learned in general education classes with those learned as a student radiographer.

Students are not required to participate in any professional development activity in order to pass a clinical course.  Successful completion of a Professional Development Activity will earn Professional Development points, which can be used to increase the clinical grade. Professional Development points do not have to be used in the semester when they were earned.  You may save up points and use them for a later semester.

Note:  Activities performed for Honors courses are not accepted for Professional Development. 

Students are encouraged to attend meetings to help develop professionalism and learn about the societies that foster learning in the field of Radiologic and Imaging Sciences.  Students may request release time from clinical assignments to attend the following activities: Indiana Society of Radiologic Technologists (ISRT) meetings, the American Society of Radiologic Technologists (ASRT), the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) meeting, or the IUPUI Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP) symposium.

Students must provide verification of attendance and must record the attendance/event in Evalue in the Professional Development section. These absences are not counted as personal days so long as the two guidelines are followed.  Professional development credit may be earned for these activities.  If the guidelines are not followed, the educational release time will be converted to personal time and PD points will not be awarded.

Professional Development Guidelines are listed below:

• PD activities must be radiology-focused. Some general medical activities may qualify for points.
• The student must obtain approval of the Clinical Coordinator to pursue a professional development activity other than professional meeting attendance, prior to commencing the activity. Projects, such as research papers, exhibits, essays, or class presentations must be completed and submitted no later than two weeks before the end of the course. At any time prior to this, the student can submit the activity to the Clinical Coordinator for comments or suggestions.
• The student must request release time to attend an activity occurring during class or clinic.
• An electronic document or picture of your attendance must be emailed to the clinical coordinator within one week of the activity as proof of attendance. Professional Development will not be accepted or approved if it is not submitted within one week or, if submitted without documentation.
• PD points must be entered into the Evalue database within one week of the activity (excluding memberships)
• Students must request release time for an event at least two weeks in advance.
• Students are responsible for their own registration arrangements to attend the event.
• Students not attending a professional meeting are expected to be present in clinic, class, or take a p-day.
• Approved educational leave taken on clinic days must be documented in Evalue under Log New Case tab and the Group category Professional Development. The type of PD taken will be selected.  For the entry to be valid, the student must include three things in the notes section of the entry; (1) actual date of event, (2) # of PD, (3) activity.  Failure to record this data will mean the entry will be deleted, count as a database error, and asked to be entered again.
• Students on probation due to attendance or other reasons, who would like to participate in activities that take them away from the clinical setting (i.e.: RNSA trip, conferences, etc.), are required to submit a letter of petition to the Clinical Coordinator ten days prior to the event. The faculty will grant or deny the request within five days of submission.   Students on clinical probation should refer to Participation in Extracurricular Activities policy in the handbook to see a complete list of restrictions.
• Please remember that, as students, you are representatives of the University. Your conduct should reflect a positive image rather than a negative one.
• Students who behave inappropriately (disruptive, inattentive, sleeping…) will be dismissed from the activity, will have the absence treated as personal time, and may face University sanctions.
• A copy of the student’s membership card shall serve as documentation for joining a professional society (ie: ISRT, ASRT). When entering into the database, the expiration date (month & year only) of the card should be typed in the notes section.

Entering Professional Development in Evalue

• The supervisor is the Clinical Coordinator
• The supervisor role is indirect
• The course is always the one the student is currently enrolled in as is the clinical site
• PD entries do not require ASN, kVp, mAs, EI#, or age
• Entries for PD will be done in case logs under the Professional Development group
• Correct PD subgroups must be selected
• Notes are always required for PD entries: date of activity, # PD points, activity description
• One walk/run per year can be entered for 3 PD points regardless of miles logged or time spent doing the activity
• Photo with friends, photo with bib number, registration receipt, etc. are all acceptable forms of verification of activity.
• Making your own shadowing experience outside of clinic hours in a modality at any facility will count as PD points

Attendance Requirements for educational conferences

• Students attending a meeting with educational release time from a clinical course are required to attend a full day of meetings. Students will be expected to arrive, check-in, and be seated at the start of the first lecture of the meeting on their excused clinical day. They are to attend a lecture or other official activity each hour when available (lunch is excluded), including any activity that ends closest to, but no later than 3:30 pm.
• There are no attendance hour requirements if the student is attending lectures and activities on his/her own time.
• If a student is unsure about the length of conference activity, a faculty member should be consulted.
• Students should wear nice clothes to meetings. Nice slacks and shirts are appropriate.
• Jeans, shorts, baseball caps, etc. are not appropriate for lecture sessions but are acceptable to wear at evening social functions.
• Make an effort to tour exhibit areas. Scientific exhibits are interesting and may give you an idea to present one yourself at future meetings.  There are also commercial x-ray companies with displays and product information.  Company sales representatives enjoy talking with students if time allows because they realize that soon you may become the manager who will be purchasing their products.  It is a great opportunity to begin professional networking.
• When attending an ISRT meeting, documentation of lecture attendance will be provided by the ISRT. It is emailed to members within a week of the conference and will serve as attendance verification.
• Documentation of participation in other official activities will typically consist of a sign-in sheet provided by a faculty member or the student. It will be the student’s responsibility to find the faculty member at the END of the activity and make sure their attendance has been documented and verified or signed.
• In the event it is not possible to get a copy of the sign-in sheet, students should include the following information on a piece of notepaper: Student name, date, name of the activity/lecture, how long the event lasted, or the hours of the lecture (i.e.: 5-6:00 pm), a signature from the speaker or room monitor, along with the date and contact information from that individual (email and phone number).