At the Annual Meeting in Toronto, the National Council of the Technologist Section passed a resolution creating a fund for awards and scholarships that will be managed by the Section. Because the tax status of the Society has changed, this fund can be contained within the Society, and all donations to it will be tax deductible. As you will recall, this resolution included a mandate to work on funding for technologist education (both individual and program awards for educational activities) and for a granting program for technologist-sponsored research. I called together several past presidents of the Section and President-Elect Frances Keech in October to begin to plan this activity. A Governing Council, composed of technologists, physicians, scientists, and industry partners, will manage the program. The planning group is working on the structure, mission statement, and kickoff plans. There will be more information at the Mid-Winter Meeting in February, and the kickoff is planned for the Los Angeles meeting next June. The kickoff will likely involve some type of special activity, so look for announcements. This awards program is essential for us to continue to serve our members and to break new ground in terms of educational opportunities and services.
The third Gateway meeting was also held in October. I asked the Gateway group to consider two issues: advanced practice, and current education for technologists. For several years we have discussed the issue of advanced practice for technologists, and during the meeting, we discussed what that practice might look like in the future. The group created a model curriculum that can be developed into a master’s degree program. It will include administration, research, and high-level skills in the clinical area. The group will continue to work on gathering data related to current practices and developing a model curriculum. I will have more information to share with you after the Mid-Winter Meeting.
The second issue concerned current educational models for technologists. In that discussion, we evaluated information from many other allied health groups and our own curriculum. I look forward to more information from this working group at the Mid-Winter Meeting.
At the Board of Directors meeting in September, a great deal of discussion centered around the need to provide education related to PET imaging to physicians and technologists. This rapidly growing imaging modality will be in all areas of the country soon, via mobile services or fixed sites. At present, educational opportunities in this area are limited for both physicians and technologists. The outcome of all this discussion is a plan to hold educational sessions at the Society office in Reston, with experts in the field presenting the “nuts and bolts” of PET operations. The first sessions will be directed toward physicians, with a program for technologists not far behind. A task force is developing a curriculum to pack information into a 1.5-day format, along with the opportunity to use workstations provided by PET equipment manufacturers.
As mentioned previously in UPTAKE, the Scope of Practice for nuclear medicine technologists is being developed by a task force appointed by Kristen Waterstram-Rich and chaired by Frances Keech. This document was reviewed at the Gateway meeting and is ready to be presented to the Council and the Board at the Mid-Winter Meeting. The Scope of Practice, which defines what we do in our everyday practice at a basic level, is essential as we move toward passage of the Consumer Assurance of Radiologic Excellence (CARE) act and then to individual state regulations.
Due to the hard work of the SNM staff in Reston, the Finance Committee was presented with a balanced budget that included all of the projects and services that were planned by Committees over the summer. Dave Perry and the Finance Committee were able to quickly approve the budget and send it on to the National Council with a positive recommendation. I thank the staff for their efforts on the budget.
Many of you know by now that Bill Bertera has resigned his position as executive director of the Society. Bill left soon after the Board of Directors and Executive Committee meetings in early October. Although his tenure was only 3 years, Bill moved the Society along a path that I believe will ensure our financial and programmatic success for years to come.
The Board of Directors named Virginia Pappas as acting executive director. The Search Committee for the new director consists of Alan Maurer, Mike Gelfand, Henry Royal, Frances Keech, and myself. We have engaged a search firm and are hoping to have a candidate to present to you at the meeting in Scottsdale. If you have any questions or comments about the search process, please contact me.