Continuing Education for Radiologic Technologists

Important Information Regarding CERT Lessons Approved Before October 2009

CERT is an online continuing education program, which provides ARRT Category A credit. Lessons focus on topic areas needed most by technologists such as CT, mammography and MRI. They are clinically focused and practical with content selected from the ARRS’ premier American Journal of Roentgenology (AJR).

It is important to understand that the AJR is a research based journal which provides radiologists with the most current information available on all aspects of radiology. The articles chosen to offer ARRT Category 1 credit are those that should be of special interest for those of you who work closely with the radiologist in CT, MRI, and mammography.

At first glance, these articles may seem overwhelming; however, after completing several lessons you will be more comfortable with the style of the journal. When reading the articles focus on the following areas of the articles because this information will be most applicable to your daily workload.

In the introduction section, which is found in the first few paragraphs of the article, focus on the general information about the disease or problem presented, how many persons have it, death rates, treatment offered, ease of diagnosis, other imaging procedures associated with the problem, etc.
In the results section in the abstract and the article you will usually find final numbers that are typically simple percentages and values. Examples would be: what percent of meniscal tears can be seen on MRI? What was the average size of the tumors seen in the patients? Or, in many instances direct information for you, the technologist, such as, kVp used, slice thickness found to be most valuable, etc.

In addition to focusing on these two sections of the article, review the images and the legends for each image in the article. Learning the pathology on the images will enable you to work more effectively with your radiologist in identifying stages of the exam.

CERT lessons also include a listing of medical terms you may not be familiar with. Two terms which come up frequently are “sensitivity” and “specificity.” These terms are important to understand because they define percentage results from the studies. Understanding these terms and the other terms included in the listing will make reading the materials easier.

Focusing on the information above will enable you to be on top of the latest research material published, which is the goal of the CERT program.