New Initiatives and a Focus on Membership

Membership

Membership is a priority. The SNMMI-TS leadership, membership committee, and staff are working together to enhance member benefits and increase membership, as well as member engagement. The membership committee is reviewing membership categories and the dues and renewal structure. In addition, it has split into 6 working groups as follows:

• Transitioning Students—Working with the new student task force; finding out why students who are participating in the “transition” category are not becoming full tech members.

• Program Directors—Working with college program directors to ensure that all programs submit their students; coordinating with the educators’ committee to understand the needs of program directors.

• Member Benefits—Identifying member needs and wants; helping to prioritize the creation and implementation of new member benefits.

• Nonmember Recruitment—Examining why nonmembers are not joining SNMMI-TS.

• Chapter Resources—Developing chapter resources, such as member-benefit slide shows and materials for chapter meetings.

• Member Engagement—Engaging members once they have joined.

Advocacy

On the advocacy front, we have been working with state technologist advocacy group representatives to promote licensure and our new scope of practice. Last year we successfully opposed bills in West Virginia and New Hampshire that would have ended licensure. In Illinois, however, the state’s budget crisis led to the elimination of the oversight board, so we will have more work ahead there. In some states, we successfully fought off encroachment by other health-care providers, such as nurse practitioners in Texas and Oregon who wanted the authority to perform nuclear medicine procedures without adequate training or experience. In other states, including Vermont and North Carolina, we worked to clean up statutes and regulations that imposed unnecessary restrictions on nuclear medicine technologists. In California, we collaborated with other groups to block, for now, a mandate that nuclear medicine technologists in training be paid the minimum wage, which would have eliminated the training programs there.

This year, we are already seeing action in Alabama, Mississippi, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, and Vermont. More states will surely be added to this list, and we will be reaching out to SNMMI-TS members as needed, encouraging contact with elected representatives to advocate for our professional standards, our scope of practice, and, especially, our patients. I am pleased to report that we have a model Practice Act nearing completion that will serve as a template for states. We are making progress but have more battles ahead and must remain vigilant.

Women in Nuclear Medicine–Technologist Section

In other news, SNMMI-TS has created a Women in Nuclear Medicine–Technologist Section (WINM-TS) committee to encourage woman technologists and students to become leaders and decision makers in the field. The committee is dedicated to encouraging professional interests and providing women with the flexibility needed to balance family life with career development. The committee will be developing opportunities for mentoring, networking, and leadership training.

Avid/Lilly Partnership Agreement

As you may recall, SNMMI-TS was awarded a $30,000 grant last year by Avid/Lilly via our partnership agreement to develop brain imaging fact sheets, clinical vignettes, a video, and training materials for students and educators. The neuroimaging steering committee and SNMMI staff have now branded the grant-supported project Brain Tech TIME (Teaching Imaging and Multidisciplinary Education), and SNMMI is creating a Brain Tech TIME website.

Continuing Education

In continuing education, we have a major new initiative: the ARRT Clinical Refreshers—short videos (less than 15 minutes) that will serve as reviews for individuals who are already certified and registered in a given discipline. These refreshers, the first of which will be on myocardial perfusion, are not continuing qualification requirements and, therefore, do not need to meet CE credit requirements.

JNMT

Congratulations to Kathy Thomas, MHA, CNMT, PET, FSNMMI-TS, as she begins her 5-year term as Editor of JNMT! Watch for new features, including invited editorials, an educators’ forum, practical protocol tips, and sections on quality and practice management and on radiopharmacy and adjunctive medications.

We also say a big “thank-you!” to Norman Bolus, MSPH, MPH, CNMT, FSNMMI-TS, for his JNMT leadership as Editor these past 5 years. He led the successful effort, along with the SNMMI staff, to have JNMT included in Clarivate Analytics’ Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI). Coverage begins with 2017.

ESCI covers all areas of the scholarly literature of the sciences, social sciences, and arts and humanities. To be accepted for coverage in ESCI, a journal must be peer-reviewed, follow ethical publishing practices, meet certain technical requirements, and be recommended or requested by a scholarly audience of Web of Science users. Journals in the ESCI are discoverable via the Web of Science through an indexing process identical to that for any other indexed journal, with full citation counts, author information, and other data. JNMT’s inclusion in ESCI could possibly lead to future inclusion in Clarivate Analytics’ Science Citation Index Expanded.

SNMMI-TS Leadership Academy Class of 2018

The 11th annual SNMMI-TS Leadership Academy was held during the SNMMI mid-winter meeting, January 25–27, in Orlando, Florida. The academy has been the centerpiece of the SNMMI-TS leadership development strategy—building a cadre of technologists with strong leadership abilities who are taking on active roles in the society at the chapter and national levels. They are the ones to lead us forward into the future.

So, congratulations to the Leadership Academy Class of 2018!

• Amanda Abbott—New England Chapter

• Katrina Beckett—Southeastern Chapter

• Julie Bolin—Pacific Southwest Chapter

• Lance Burrell—Pacific Northwest Chapter

• Regan Grimm—Southeastern Chapter

• Matthew McMahon—New England Chapter

• Lisa Patrick—Pacific Southwest Chapter

• Cheryl Rickley—Greater New York Chapter

• Kelli Schlarbaum—Missouri Valley Chapter

• Renee Wincek—Southeastern Chapter (student member)

• Sarah Brosmer—Central Chapter (student member)

The year is already well under way, and we have ambitious goals to accomplish. I look forward to providing a progress update at the annual meeting in Philadelphia, June 23–26. In the meantime, I invite members to consider volunteering with one of the SNMMI-TS committees. The more people involved, the more we can accomplish. Working together, I know we can make great inroads in realizing the objectives of our strategic plan.