20 The American Registry of Radiologic Technologists (ARRT) Clinical Competency Requirements

By completion of the radiography program, it is the student’s responsibility to ensure completion of all ARRT Competencies, including procedure and general patient care activity requirements. Competencies obtained by the student in the program’s first year do not count towards the ARRT requirement.  The opportunities to perform required competencies are provided in the second year of the clinical experience. Although many competencies will be completed during R270 and R271, students must complete ALL competencies by the completion of R272, with the exception of one simulation exam.

• ten mandatory general patient care activities
• 36 mandatory imaging procedures
• 15 elective imaging procedures, which must include one from the head section and two from the fluoroscopy section.

Students are expected to perform competency procedures on actual patients. The ARRT allows a small percentage of procedures to be “simulated.”  IU Radiography students will perform all competency procedures on actual patients and be permitted to simulate one (1) competency without a grade reduction. This simulation will be done at the end of the program’s final semester.  Simulations will be scheduled with the Clinical Coordinator after completing ALL clinical courses.  The complete competencies and patient care activities list can be found on the ARRT Exam List, which can be found in the student’s Canvas Clinical Course.

 ARRT Definitions (effective January 2017)

• C-Arm Procedure = requiring manipulation to obtain more than one projection
• Surgical C-Arm Procedure = requiring manipulation around a sterile field
• Geriatric Patient = at least 65 yrs old & physically/cognitively impaired as a result of aging
• Pediatric Patient = age six or younger
• Trauma exams = a serious injury or shock to the body and require modification in positioning and monitoring of the patient’s condition

Exam Simulations for ARRT guidelines and program graduation- Students are allowed one exam simulation without a grade penalty, if needed, at the end of the program in order to achieve the required 36 mandatory exams and 15 elective exams.  Two or more simulations needed will result in a full letter grade reduction per procedure.

Note: Not all exams can be simulated. Please refer to the ARRT exam list for reference. If at the end of the program, a student is missing an exam that cannot be simulated, they must attend additional clinical time to complete the missing exam.

ARRT General Patient Care Activities- The program refers to many of the ARRT general patient care activities as Skill Competencies.  These clinical activities are documented in Evalue under the Skills category.  The four skills to document in this area are Patient Assessments & Vital Signs (PAVS), Sterile/Aseptic Techniques, Patient Transfer, and Venipuncture.

Students must check the “Clinical Course Requirements” form located at the end of the clinical course syllabus for the number of patient care activities to be performed each semester.  Each of these activities must be verified in Evalue by the technologist that observed the activity.

Patient Assessment and Vital Signs (PAVS)- Students will record the blood pressure (BP), Pulse (P), Respiration (R), and the name of the individual the vitals were performed on, in the notes section of the PAVS competency in Evalue (example: Jane Doe, BP 124/82, R 18, P 82).  Mandatory information not included in the notes section will result in the PAVS competency to be deleted from the database and/or the student may incur a database error.  Clinical courses will vary on the number and spacing of PAVS that must be performed each semester.

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Transfer of Patient- Achievement of this competency requires that the student apply proper techniques of transfer of a patient on to (or off of) a radiographic table using a transfer device in ALL clinical courses.  The transfer activity and device used must be indicated in the notes section of Evalue in order to be valid (example: transferred patient from cart to table using slider board).  Transfer of Patient will be listed on the “Clinical Course Requirements” form located at the end of the clinical course syllabus each semester and will indicate the number of transfer competencies to be performed.  This activity must be verified in Evalue by the supervising technologist.  Mandatory information not included in the notes section will result in the Transfer competency to be deleted from the database and/or the student may incur a database error.

Sterile/Aseptic Technique- Achievement of this competency requires that the student apply sterile/aseptic technique during setup or performance of a radiologic procedure.  The sterile procedure or activity must be indicated in the notes section of Evalue in order to be valid (example: set up a sterile tray for arthrogram).  Students must check the “Clinical Course Requirements” form located at the end of the clinical course syllabus each semester for the number of sterile/aseptic technique competencies to be performed.  This activity must be verified in Evalue by the supervising technologist. Mandatory information not included in the notes section will result in the Sterile/ Aseptic Technique competency being deleted from the database and/or the student may incur a database error.

Venipuncture – Students will be given formal education on proper venipuncture techniques during Patient Care II in the summer semester of their second year in the program.  Once formal instruction has been given, students are expected to perform a minimum of two venipuncture sticks in clinical course R274.  Students will find the opportunity to comp many times during his/her CT rotation.  Venipunctures will be listed on the “Clinical Course Requirements” form located at the end of the clinical course syllabus.  This activity must be verified in Evalue by the supervising technologist.