Why & How the ASRT is Fighting for Medical Imaging Technologists

Welcome to a couple of rad text podcasts. I am Chaundria, your host and this show we dive deep into everything medical imaging and radiation therapy.

So if you are in the medical imaging family, a radiologic technologist, MRI technologist, radiation therapist, any field in medical imaging, this episode is for you. So be sure to stick around. Let me ask you a question. Do you know who actually is out there fighting for our medical imaging careers? I.

I mean, really, who's fighting?

Because I used to think that the ASRT was just about CEUs and keeping up with our credits until I learned they are on the front lines protecting our jobs, our salaries, and even patient safety.

Today we're break down exactly how the ASRT is fighting, why they're fighting, why licensure is more than just a piece of paper, and what happens when we don't pay attention to what's happening in our profession. Let's get into it. I want you to imagine this. Everyone close your eyes if you want, but if you're driving, don't close your eyes.

But just imagine walking into work tomorrow and finding out that anyone, yes anyone, could do your job without training or certification. No license, no education, just a hospital badge and some cute scrubs. Sounds crazy, right?

Well, without organizations like ASRT fighting for our medical imaging jobs, that really isn't far fetched. And I'm gonna give you some real life examples in a few. So the truth is, our profession is constantly at risk of being watered down.

I mean, I make content and others make content about being called button pushers and all the like, all the things like that.

But really, if you understood what's really happening in our profession over the 20 years that I've been doing it, I definitely see the risk of it being watered down and even poof, possibly being gone. We hope not. But this is how I want you guys to think about this because it is happening out there.

Maybe not in your state, but in other states and in our profession.

There's this ongoing battle over licensure, hospitals trying to cut corners, and lawmakers who don't fully understand what we as medical imaging professionals bring to the table in patient care. And that's why today's episode is so important. I'm diving into how ASRT is fighting to protect us with state and national laws going to those levels.

Why licensure is more than a formality. We worked hard for these degrees, right?

And all of these certifications and how your ASRT membership does more than just get you CE credits and monitoring of them. It safeguards Your career. And we're going to go into that. So here's the issue. Not every state requires a license for medical imaging technologists.

Shocking, right? And when laws are weak, hospitals can start hiring people or imaging centers can start hiring people who don't have the proper training.

That means patient safety is at risk. Our profession loses credibility, and our salaries and job security take a hit. This isn't just a hypothetical problem. It happened before.

Let's take you back to a time where medical imaging was wildly regulated. I guess they called it the wild, wild West. Not funny. But it was true, you guys, before ASRT stepped into fight for our profession and for us.

And we know all of the things and the dangers that happen when you just don't understand radiation safety. There were no. There were no real national regulations. Unrestrained personnel were just exposing people to unsafe levels of radiation.

Can you imagine the risk? I mean, we've seen it in textbooks.

If you've been to the museum, you've seen all the people who have succumbed to radiation, uncontrolled radiation, unregulated radiation, just. Just being used on them. Well, the SRT saw this as a crisis and started pushing for national licensing standards way back then.

They fought for over a decade, you guys, pushing Congress to recognize that imaging isn't just pushing a button. And we're still talking about that today. Still people calling us button pushers.

I know you're staring up in space. Like, what? Some states took action, others didn't. And that's why the ASRT is still fighting today to strengthen licensing laws.

Because the moment we let our guard down, hospitals, imaging centers and lawmakers, they. They'll start to look for loopholes. Right? So what exactly is the ASRT doing today to protect our profession? Let's break it down.

Three points I'm going to make here. So stay with me. Pay attention. These are really, really important and I'm going to give examples with them. Number one, state level advocacy.

The ASRT works directly with state legislators to push for stronger licensure requirements and prevent states from lowering their standards. When states like Tennessee attempted to deregulate imaging licensure laws, ASRT stepped in to protect technologists and patient safet.

Number two, federal representation. We went from a state level to a federal level.

Now ASRT educates the Congress on the importance of qualified registered technologists and ensures we're recognized as essential healthcare providers.

Oh my goodness, it was the first I had that I remember in the 20 years had been a part of that and learned about it. So the reclassification of radiologic technologists.

Because we have a lot of imaging centers out there, right? They try to train nurses, front desk people who answer phones, have no medical background. I have seen it with my own eyes, you guys.

Unqualified personnel to perform imaging tasks. ASRT actively monitors and responds to these efforts. What if you were the patient?

What if you were the person that got fired or laid off in order to hire an unqualified individual? Just think about that.

Efforts in Tennessee aimed at deregulating the medical imaging and radiation therapy profession. Such deregulation, it leads to unqualified individuals performing imaging procedures that compromises patient safety.

Number one, scope of expansion by other healthcare professionals. I mean we see it there.

I think I forget what state it was, but they were saying how they were going to train nurses to add to them taking X rays as well as other healthcare professionals. Expanding into our scope of practice to include ordering, performing, supervising, interpreting medical imaging and radiation therapy procedures.

We know how much training goes into this. And not only training. Years of experience and repetition over the years. That's what makes a qualified technologist.

And the ASRT monitors and responds to such legislative bills of both state and federal levels to ensure that imaging procedures are performed by registered radiology technologists and qualified professionals.

So these Examples highlight the ASRT's commitment to advocating for the profession at a federal level and preventing role dilution by ensuring that only qualified technologists perform medical imaging procedures. So why the SRT membership matters? I know you're wondering that. I wondered it too. The SRT is only as strong as its members.

When you become a member, you're not just signing up for CEU credits or monitoring CEU credits. I thought that I was wrong, but I learned more. And that's what I want to share with you all.

You're literally helping fund the fight to keep our profession recognized, respected and protected. I don't know about you, but I've been doing this for over 20 years and I don't see where I'm going to be stopping anytime soon. I love what I do.

I'm in great shape. It has not broken my body down, so I can still work in this field.

And the way the profession is advancing technical wise alone, there's so many more possibilities for me now to continue to be able to work, because I'm not at that age to retire, so there are more opportunities for me. So imagine if our profession got diluted or just altogether gone, or just diluted with unqualified individuals. Where does that leave us?

So this is why the membership into the ASRT is important, in my opinion. Remember, we need to be recognized, respected and protected. What do you get as a member beyond CE credits? That's what I wanted to know.

And I'm sure you all as well. So career protection, they look through all of those things legislatively and they go through all of those.

They're always up at the forefront, staying ahead of the game. They're being proactive. And we need people who they devote their time to that because we're out here busy working as technologists, right?

Making a living for our family. SRT ensures hospitals can't start hiring unqualified people to replace us. Bottom line, legal advocacy.

If your state tries to weaken licensure laws, the SRT is right there to fight back. You can't scan and go do that. I mean, you know, it is very hard to do all of that.

That's why they have People dedicated to for years who have been doing this, they understand, they have relationships, they're working, they understand how to read through certain things and bills and they, they understand how to talk to on a federal level, on a state level. They understand the things that are coming up because they've been doing this for years. So they kind of know what to look out for.

All of those things like that they have the experience and professional growth. You have access to leadership programs.

I want to ask my listeners how many of you, if you are a member of the SRT have taken advantage of the leadership programs?

I'm going to tell you, I was not a member for a long time in my profession, but after a few years now being a member, I'm taking advantage of everything. And I have seen the difference in my, my ability to grow in the profession. I've been able to get discounts on certain things.

I mean that has really helped a lot.

But being able to learn other ways to advance my career, such as the leadership program, I hadn't looked into it to another member that was on my podcast, suggested to me, why don't you apply to the leadership program? I think you'd be great in it. I hadn't even looked at it as a member. And this is what being a member of the SRT does.

You are in connection with people just like you who are out there in the field scanning on machines, dealing with patients. But they are members of the SRT for many years. My husband has been a member for the entire time of his profession, which is over 15 years.

And he uses his, his membership. He uses it, he loves it, it is a one stop shop for him. And I see why. He has been a member for all 15 plus years.

And when I had this young lady on my podcast, she helped me to kind of break down all of these opportunities for professional, professional growth that I'm paying for in my membership. Specialty training, career development tools. I could go on scholarship opportunities.

There's so much for professional growth conferences that I hadn't really looked at before that I didn't even know existed. Professional growth is important. It's more than just going sitting in a class.

The people I've met because of being a member of the ASRT has really opened my eyes to things that boy I could have been doing a long time ago. Right.

So if you're feeling stuck in the profession or like you can't really grow, I'm going to encourage you to look at joining the ASRT for that reason, especially because it does offer professional growth opportunities and networking in a community. I spoke about the individual that was on my podcast who was a member of the asrt and that's how I found her to be on my podcast.

We networked, we're a community. And she was able to enlighten me on why don't you look at joining the leadership program?

If you, if you network, you learn about things that aren't out there. I recently through the SRT was talking to a member and they said what did you know? So and so was hiring.

Didn't even know that was a company because their company says nothing about radiology. Their company says nothing about imaging. But what this company does has everything to do about medical imaging and it's perfect for us.

I would have never known if I didn't have the networking and community from the srt. There's so much beyond CE credit monitoring and offering of CE credits.

Now that is a good thing because I'm going to give a little shout out to this year. I solely wanted to see how good the CE credit offerings were from the srt. Before I would just kind of take one here, take one there.

But this year I said I'm going to get them all from. I want like 60 plus CEU credits because I did some other things as well. So I had more than enough.

It's just so much we learned by being in a community and networking with with people in our profession. Right. And that's why we got to keep it strong and that's why we have to be members of organization. I'm going to tell the story really quickly.

So I took my CEU credits all from the SRT this year. That's why I said I was going to get my entire 24 from a C. If this was easy or not, I was. I was going to put them to the test. It was great.

It was super easy.

This was honestly maybe the second time I have never struggled and going down to the wire of trying to get my CE credits, like I'm usually that procrastinator on my credit hours and toughing it out and making it harder on myself. But this year it was a pleasure. It was an absolute pleasure. And I was confident after I took those courses. They weren't complicated.

They were easy to use, easy to get to. I learned a lot from them because I chose ones that were within my scope of practice.

MRI, CT But I kind of did a little different because I wanted to do something different and I was able to choose within my parameters at Mrs. CT things that just weren't trte patient safety. It was really educational and I enjoyed them. They were a lot of fun.

So I challenge you, if you are SRT member, to give yourself one year to just get all your 24 from the SRT and watch how easy it is. I'm just telling you that was my honest experience. I like to try things out to see if it's really true or not.

I did it and it was a lot easier, a lot less stressful. We're all about less stress, right? What can you do to help? Now that you know what ASRT is doing for us, let's talk about what we can do.

And I kind of led up to it a little bit in my last, last storytelling. Talk about they're not just about CEU credits, but they do offer it. I want to encourage you to join the srt.

If you're not a member already, it's time to sign up. You guys, you're not just helping yourself, you're helping to protect the entire profession.

But let me go back and if you are a member of the SRT already, delve into it. Figure out what you have not taken advantage of by being a member of the srt. Dig through it, figure out what is it that I'm not getting from.

So that way you really benefit from what the membership has to offer and it's just not CEU credit. Like really benefit from the professional growth. If you want to be an advocate in another way, look at the different ways you can advocate.

Everybody's not going to want to go and be a part of reading bills and going down to Congress, but you can advocate in your own way for the profession. We all have our role. Figure out your role by being a member first and figuring out how you can fit into that and use it to grow as a professional.

You'd be surprised.

The skills that you'll learn by membership in organizations like the SRT is not always a one sided benefit to membership groups is most of the time you grow in ways that you would never have imagined. Now I want to talk about staying informed.

Pay attention to what's happening in your state, with licensure laws in your hospital, in your imaging center, wherever you are. And as a member, you can kind of easily do that. But if you're not a member, you know. But stay informed, stay informed.

Next, I want to encourage you to speak up. The SRT provides templates and tools where they could use your help.

You can write an article, you can create a social media post, you can get some signatures or spearhead some things at your job. There are different ways you can advocate.

You can go into schools and tell students how we contribute to medical facilities and healthcare and who we are. Those things all add up.

We work too hard to get our degrees and all of these certifications, and we impact too many lives to let our profession be weakened and even disappear as the ASRT is doing the work. But they need us to stand up with them. Figure out how you can and how it fits into your life to do that.

And first, by joining the asrt, I hope this episode gave you a new appreciation for what the ASRT does and why their work is so important to us as medical imaging and radiologic technology technologist and radiation therapist. If this episode spoke to you, share it with another technologist who needs to hear it.

Let's make sure everyone understands why ASRT is fighting for us and how we can join them. And if you haven't already, head over to asrt.org that's www.ASRT.org and become a member.