Mid year report on current AIR projects aug 2010 mid year... · National Registration and National...
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18 The Institute Spectrum August 2010 Members occasionally ask the question, “but what does the AIR do for us, the members?” In effect what they are saying is “What do we get for our money”. A good question and one that we will continue to address in the Annual Report and through regular reports, such as this. We thought it would be a good idea to report on the current projects under way through the activities of the AIR. In doing so, we would like to thank those many members who hold positions on the various panels and boards of the Institute and who give their voluntary time so willingly and generously. National Registration and National Accreditation are two very significant projects currently demanding attention from the Board and key staff members. This focus reflects the introduc- tion of the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Act 2009 into effect for the initial 10 professions on 1st July this year. Medical radiation practitioners will be registered nation- ally from 1st July 2012 and there is much to do in preparation for this event. While the Board of the AIR fully supports the introduction of National Registration, the devil is in the detail. Specifically, we are concerned about the manner in which the current national accreditation of the undergraduate diag- nostic, therapy and nuclear medicine in universities, carried out by the AIR through the PAEB for the first two modalities and the ANZSNM for nuclear medicine, will evolve under the new arrangements. The legislation makes it clear that the profession may no longer be the “owning” body for this activity. For the current 10 professions captured under National Registration, this was not a problem since they had established an accredit- ing agency, governed by a Board of Directors which was drawn equally from the profession, the academic institutions and the registration boards. However, currently, because not all of the states and territo- ries have a registration board, the professions in medical radia- tion are in the situation of working with the emerging National Board to incorporate their participation into the national proc- ess, which the profession has run, in our case for the past 59 years. Working to avoid conflicts of interest and maintain the transparency and the standards which we have developed, we do not want to throw away the good work of the past, or let the standards of the profession, of which we are justly proud, be captured by various interest groups. For a national professional body we must ensure that all views are heard and that the several pathways into professional knowledge and practice, so long as they lead to expert practitioners capable of sound professional judgement, are supported and encouraged. As a part of this work the Board has reinstated the meetings of the Heads of Discipline from the various tertiary educational institutes teaching medical radiation. These meetings will occur regularly from now on with support from the AIR to facilitate the needs of this important group. The Board has recognised that the basis for the profes- sional standards are the Competency Based Standards. These are undergoing a comprehensive review and in the second half of this year there will be widespread consultation on the revised standards. We hope that many of you will be willing to attend meetings and take the opportunity to respond. This also has a bearing on another major initiative, which is the development of Advanced Practice. The Panel has had several meetings and the next phase of this initiative is also underway. We should be seeing some very interesting discussions and outcomes from this towards the later part of the year. When we consider this topic, invariably the questions arises about what it might mean to be a Practitioner Assistant. The Board has already provided a clear answer to this which is on our website (http://www.air.asn.au/ news.php?date=2008-10) in which we state: “The AIR supports the concept of medical imaging assistants, but only for safe and non-radiographic tasks, and always in the immediate physical presence of a fully qualified graduate radiographer.” However, the Board recognises that there is more work to be done in defin- ing the acceptable activities and professional standards not only for practitioner assistants but also limited licence operators. In another sphere, the AIR has called for tenders to provide a post graduate mammography course and this is currently in review. The review of the Professional Development Year is in its final iteration and there have been a number of responses to the final call for comment. This will be incorporated into the end of year delivery of the CBS Review. The Board has also received a review of the Continuing Professional Development Programme in which we are trying to make the opportunity to complete CPD more multi dimensional and at the same time administratively simple. The new IT systems and database will see significant change for members in this area. There has also been a major study into the value of social networking and the implications of this, which is presently before the Board for consideration and will be reported back to the membership. A further major development, which is ready for release and use and has immediate relevance to the CPD topic is that of E-Learning. Members who attended the CSM Conference last year may well remember the CT quiz displayed on the AIR stand. This will also be available for members as an adjunct to the E-Learning project. It has been an interesting challenge deal- ing with the technology necessary to provide access to all our members across the country. There has been much done to look at the standards of prac- tice necessary for a medical radiation professional to gain entry into Australia. The Board has approved a revision of the English Language Standards necessary so that all overseas applicants Mid year report on current AIR projects David Collier Chief Executive
Transcript of Mid year report on current AIR projects aug 2010 mid year... · National Registration and National...
18 The Institute Spectrum August 2010
Members occasionally ask the question, “but what does the AIR do for us, the members?” In effect what they are saying is “What do we get for our money”.
A good question and one that we will continue to address in the Annual Report and through regular reports, such as this. We thought it would be a good idea to report on the current projects under way through the activities of the AIR. In doing so, we would like to thank those many members who hold positions on the various panels and boards of the Institute and who give their voluntary time so willingly and generously.
National Registration and National Accreditation are two very significant projects currently demanding attention from the Board and key staff members. This focus reflects the introduc-tion of the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Act 2009 into effect for the initial 10 professions on 1st July this year. Medical radiation practitioners will be registered nation-ally from 1st July 2012 and there is much to do in preparation for this event. While the Board of the AIR fully supports the introduction of National Registration, the devil is in the detail.
Specifically, we are concerned about the manner in which the current national accreditation of the undergraduate diag-nostic, therapy and nuclear medicine in universities, carried out by the AIR through the PAEB for the first two modalities and the ANZSNM for nuclear medicine, will evolve under the new arrangements. The legislation makes it clear that the profession may no longer be the “owning” body for this activity. For the current 10 professions captured under National Registration, this was not a problem since they had established an accredit-ing agency, governed by a Board of Directors which was drawn equally from the profession, the academic institutions and the registration boards.
However, currently, because not all of the states and territo-ries have a registration board, the professions in medical radia-tion are in the situation of working with the emerging National Board to incorporate their participation into the national proc-ess, which the profession has run, in our case for the past 59 years. Working to avoid conflicts of interest and maintain the transparency and the standards which we have developed, we do not want to throw away the good work of the past, or let the standards of the profession, of which we are justly proud, be
captured by various interest groups. For a national professional body we must ensure that all views are heard and that the several pathways into professional knowledge and practice, so long as they lead to expert practitioners capable of sound professional judgement, are supported and encouraged. As a part of this work the Board has reinstated the meetings of the Heads of Discipline from the various tertiary educational institutes teaching medical radiation. These meetings will occur regularly from now on with support from the AIR to facilitate the needs of this important group.
The Board has recognised that the basis for the profes-sional standards are the Competency Based Standards. These are undergoing a comprehensive review and in the second half of this year there will be widespread consultation on the revised standards. We hope that many of you will be willing to attend meetings and take the opportunity to respond. This also has a bearing on another major initiative, which is the development of Advanced Practice. The Panel has had several meetings and the next phase of this initiative is also underway. We should be seeing some very interesting discussions and outcomes from this towards the later part of the year. When we consider this topic, invariably the questions arises about what it might mean to be a Practitioner Assistant. The Board has already provided a clear answer to this which is on our website (http://www.air.asn.au/news.php?date=2008-10) in which we state: “The AIR supports the concept of medical imaging assistants, but only for safe and non-radiographic tasks, and always in the immediate physical presence of a fully qualified graduate radiographer.” However, the Board recognises that there is more work to be done in defin-ing the acceptable activities and professional standards not only for practitioner assistants but also limited licence operators.
In another sphere, the AIR has called for tenders to provide a post graduate mammography course and this is currently in review.
The review of the Professional Development Year is in its final iteration and there have been a number of responses to the final call for comment. This will be incorporated into the end of year delivery of the CBS Review. The Board has also received a review of the Continuing Professional Development Programme in which we are trying to make the opportunity to complete CPD more multi dimensional and at the same time administratively simple. The new IT systems and database will see significant change for members in this area. There has also been a major study into the value of social networking and the implications of this, which is presently before the Board for consideration and will be reported back to the membership.
A further major development, which is ready for release and use and has immediate relevance to the CPD topic is that of E-Learning. Members who attended the CSM Conference last year may well remember the CT quiz displayed on the AIR stand. This will also be available for members as an adjunct to the E-Learning project. It has been an interesting challenge deal-ing with the technology necessary to provide access to all our members across the country.
There has been much done to look at the standards of prac-tice necessary for a medical radiation professional to gain entry into Australia. The Board has approved a revision of the English Language Standards necessary so that all overseas applicants
Mid year report on current AIR projectsDavid CollierChief Executive
19 Spectrum August 2010 The Institute
who require an IELTS examination must now achieve a score of seven in each and every element of the assessment. This has raised a number of issues currently under consideration about local applicants requiring assessment, and this is a project which continues. It leads into another development which goes under the title of Mentoring, Communication and Learning, a pro-gramme designed to encourage students from school into this profession. The initial stages of this project have seen a small group of young professionals attend a training programme and develop the skills needed to provide school presentations. As a further part of this programme to attract suitable people into the profession the AIR is administering a Federal programme called Enhancing Rural and Remote Workforce which offers support and encouragement to rural and remote people to achieve their goals in diagnostic practice. The application process will com-mence in the very near future.
There are a number of specialist interest groups emerging and working under the auspices of the various panels of the AIR. Already we have had a meeting of the Angiography Working Group and others which look likely to emerge might encompass the following: a CT users Group, a Mammography Group, a PET/CT Group and one covering off PICC.
There has been much work on the issue of access to The Radiographer, which is now available to all members online and also to non-members with an issue delay. Spectrum is also now online. The ERB is working further on the question of attracting submissions to The Radiographer and developing an impact factor, which is a very much more complex issue than first appeared.
Members will also be aware by now that the AIR is moving to new premises in the Melbourne CBD which will offer all the
space and presence that the Board believes is needed for the foreseeable future. Visiting members, local and national, will be able to access easily this much-improved resource. The building offers a professional and relaxed environment; it provides a base for members to relax and discover more about the Institute in Australia. We will offer internet access to all members who visit Melbourne and display most of our historical collection, library and equipment. There are functional meeting spaces and room for workshops and meetings, with seminar seating for around 60 to 80 people. This will be a resource that we will explore to advantage in the future.
There are a number of other projects, some just start-ing out, such as the review of the AIR’s Code of Ethics and Practice, the development of professional questionnaires and assessments and the enhancement of the AIRaid Programme, with a dedicated opportunity for physical support in Lae, New Guinea, about to begin. There are a number of on-going projects such as the Fellowship where we are putting in place a programme to provide members who are asked to adjudicate a specific training programme. There are the conferences, the ISRRT 2010 World Congress which is well under control and the ASMMIRT 2011 which will be in Adelaide and is about to call for papers. The AIR belongs to a number of professional organisations and professional and governmental interest groups, and your Board members frequently give their time to participate in these meetings, representing the interests of the AIR and our profession.
We hope that reading through this report gives the member-ship a clearer view of the range and extent of the activities which your membership supports and encourages and outlines the key role that the AIR plays in the profession.
