Advancing the Profession with a Focus on Value and Quality

Norman E. Bolus, MSPH, MPH, CNMT, FSNMMI-TS

I am so honored to serve as SNMMI-TS president! First, I would like to thank Kathleen Krisak, immediate past president, for her grace, diligence, and sacrifice during the difficult budget year now coming to a close. Because of her leadership, I am well positioned for success. I hope to continue her endeavors, working on implementing our new strategic plan and continuing efforts to meet objectives of the Quality Initiative. I would also like to congratulate Mark Crosthwaite, our new president-elect. I look forward to working with both this year, and I hope that I can prepare Mark to take over next June as well as Kathy has prepared me.

In addition to maintaining the momentum that we have gained this year in the areas of membership and advocacy (see the new Model Practice Act in this edition of JNMT; it was recently completed by the Advocacy Committee), I hope to maintain all the endeavors of our various committees, which propel our mission forward.

I am also starting two new initiatives. The first is a task force to explore the “imaging scientist concept”—a potential new professional credential that may be needed for those involved in hybrid imaging and theranostics. It will be led by Lynne Roy, MBA, CNMT, FSNMMI-TS. The person with this new credential representing multimodality training and education would be somewhere between an entry-level nuclear medicine technologist (NMT) and a nuclear medicine advanced associate (NMAA). This person may or may not be an NMT, but certainly will need NMT training and education.

This task force, which will be made up of representatives from different professions involved in medical imaging and therapy, will be gathering information and developing a template for what the scope of practice might be for an “imaging scientist.” The goal is to bring together all interested parties for a conference on the issue at our annual meeting next June in Anaheim, California. Be on the lookout for opportunities to provide your input and feel free to contact me or Lynne Roy with your ideas on this issue.

The second new endeavor will address outreach objectives in the SNMMI Value Initiative. It is an SNMMI-TS practice-based outreach task force of the SNMMI Outreach Committee. I’ve asked Aileen Staffaroni, MS, CNMT, to chair it. She will also serve as a member of that committee and provide the SNMMI-TS leadership with updates on initiatives and progress. The group’s charge is to:

• collaborate with the SNMMI Outreach Committee to develop a practice-based outreach plan for communicating the value of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging to patients, chief technologists, and referring physicians;

• identify technologists in various regions and chapters to help disseminate materials to and communicate with patients, chief technologists, and referring physicians;

• develop educational materials for technologists to improve patient satisfaction with nuclear medicine and molecular imaging services; and

• create educational materials for patients concerning nuclear medicine and molecular imaging services.

I see this task force beginning its work by packaging existing SNMMI and SNMMI-TS educational materials and distributing them to clinics via chief technologists and nuclear medicine physicians. Our target audience is referring physicians. It is essential that they gain an understanding of nuclear medicine’s value to them and their patients. One idea for the title of this informational package is “Nuclear Medicine V/Q—Value and Quality: It’s not just ventilation/perfusion lung scans!”

I am fortunate to have a remarkable leadership team working with me on this and the myriad initiatives we are undertaking this year! Here are the committee and task force chairs:

Advocacy Committee: Anthony J. Sicignano, BS, CNMT, RT(N)

Awards Committee: Sara G. Johnson, MBA, CNMT, NCT, FSNMMI-TS

Bylaws Committee: Nancy McDonald, CNMT

Continuing Education Committee: April Mann, MBA, CNMT, NCT, RT(N)

Educators Committee: Dusty M. York, CNMT, PET, RT(N)(CT)

Finance Committee: Marcia L. Hess Smith, MEd, CNMT, FSNMMI-TS

History Committee: Brenda J. King, CNMT, FSNMMI-TS

Imaging Scientist Concept Task Force: Lynne T. Roy, MBA, CNMT, FSNMMI-TS

International Liaison: C. David Gilmore, MS, CNMT, RT(N), FSNMMI-TS

Manager Task Force: Dmitry D. Beyder, MPA, CNMT

Membership Committee: Krystle W. Glasgow, CNMT, NMTCB(CT), NMAA

Nominating Committee: Kathleen M. Krisak, BS, CNMT, FSNMMI-TS

Nuclear Medicine Week Task Force: Joyce K. Zimmerman, CNMT, MBA, LRT

PET/MR Task Force: Kimberly Kerrylin Jackson, CNMT, RT(N)(MR)

Professional Development and Education Fund (PDEF): Dori L. Nelson, BS, CNMT, NCT and Jessica Williams, CNMT, RT(N), FSNMMI-TS

Professional Development Committee: Joshua J. Reynolds, MBA, CNMT, RT(N,CT,MR)

Program Committee: Tina M. Buehner, MS, CNMT, NMTCB(CT), RT(N)(CT), FSNMMI-TS and Eleanor S. Mantel, CNMT, RT(N), FSNMMI-TS

Publications Committee: Paul S. Riley, Jr., MPH, CNMT, NCT and Jessica Williams, CNMT, RT(N), FSNMMI-TS

Practice-Based Outreach Task Force: Aileen Staffaroni, MS, CNMT

Quality Committee: April Mann, MBA, CNMT, NCT, RT(N)

Scope of Practice Task Force: Dmitry D. Beyder, MPA, CNMT

State TAG: Tricia L. Peters, BS, CNMT, PET, R(CT)

Student and Graduate Task Force: Kaval K. Mann and Tommy Lieu, MRT(NM) (student)

Women in Nuclear Medicine Committee: Dusty M. York, CNMT, PET, RT(N)(CT)

I look forward to working with them on our strategic plan objectives. Although budget constraints remain, I am optimistic the tide has turned, and we can continue to grow and improve our profession and the Society. Thank you for the opportunity to serve as your president! I hope to see you at events and meetings throughout the year.