My Year of “Lasts”

Frances Neagley, CNMT, FSNMTS Editor, JNMT

It is hard to believe that it is March 2011 already. This is going to be a year of “lasts” for me. Five years ago in March, I did my first editorial for the JNMT; this is my last March issue.

I have just returned from my last mid-winter SNM meeting as editor of the JNMT. It is always good to see old friends and colleagues again. It was a fairly busy meeting, even though the extreme winter weather in the East prevented many people from coming to Palm Springs, where the weather was just about perfect.

The National Council of Representatives tackled some weighty issues such as streamlining its meetings through a system of checks and balances and rearranging the agenda items. There was a breakout session in which groups discussed the job market, skill training and CT certification, cost of meetings and membership, distance learning, and the State Health Policy Liaison program. I really knew nothing about distance learning, so I decided to sit in on that group. I found the discussions to be enlightening and asked the group leaders if they would do an article for one of the next issues of the JNMT.

I attended the meetings of both the SNMTS and the SNM publication committees. Both groups were deciding on new editors for the journals. Dominique Delbeke, MD, PhD, was selected for the JNM, and Norman E. Bolus, MPH, CNMT, was chosen to be the new editor of the JNMT beginning next year.

Norm is from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where he is the director of the technologist program. We have worked together on the National Council of Representatives, and he has written a number of articles. He will become my coeditor in July, and we will be working together for the rest of the year to coordinate editorial duties and share ideas for the JNMT. I personally like Norm and think he will make a good editor, and I will most likely be talking more about him in my remaining issues.

Many years ago, the JNM and JNMT made the decision to no longer accept case reports for publication. Recently, however, a case report was submitted that caught my interest. I sent it to one of my associate editors, who agreed that it had real merit. We brought this issue to the SNMTS publication committee, where it was agreed that case reports have educational merit for technologists and should be part of the JNMT. So, beginning in the June issue, we will have our first case report in what I hope will become a regular part of the journal. If you have previously submitted a case report and it was rejected, now is the time to resubmit. And if you have ever thought about submitting, now is the time to do so.

I am happy to report that we do have a continuing education article in this issue. Besides providing a source for CE credit, I believe this article will generate much discussion about informed consent as an ideal and as it is practiced. In addition, we have a good number of imaging articles that should be of interest.

By the time the June issue of JNMT comes out, the SNM and SNMTS will be holding their annual meeting in San Antonio, Texas. Since this will be my last annual meeting as editor, I am hoping that many of you will be attending and we will be able to see each other and talk about the journal one last time.

If you cannot get to the annual meeting, remember that I am always open to suggestions and comments and can be reached at fneagley{at}pacbell.net. Being editor of a journal can be an isolated job, and interactions with readers are few but cherished.