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Ask a Technologist :: RE: certificate or AA

November 18, 2008 on 7:30 pm | In Uncategorized | Author: papa
Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2008 6:19 pm (GMT -4)
Topic Replies: 8

not really the patient care parts, but more of the global scale. for instance, i didn't take history, i took sociology and psycology. so basically, i can look at someones background, and find an easier (and maybe sometimes better) way of aproaching a situation.

for example, i've got a patient who has come into the er. visiting from a forigen country, where there is not a lot of medical technology. i can use the information i learned in sociology to understand the society he came from, and understand that the "big machines" can be a little intimidating (especially in CT and MRI).

knowing this, how am i going to approach this patient? what can i do to help him/her understand that what we're going to do to them will not hurt them. with me, all they see is this giant piece of machinery, and me in my lab coat with a drawrer full of needles. that's where my psych classes come in handy.

should these be required? maybe not. some people come by these skills naturally. and i'm sure we could go on for days about all the skills you'd "learn" associated with an associates degree.

fact of the matter is, what kind of documentation do you have to back yourself up with? i look at this as the arrt is trying to help us. when you go to get your car worked on, you should be making sure that the mechanics are certifyied in what they do. if not, the work they do may not be acurate. i'm not saying that the piece of paper guarentees that they do good work, but they have been trained to do so.

the associates degree puts the technologists into that profesional plane. it tends to differentiate the difference between a technologist and a technician. when you're applying for a job, especially in this type of economy, you want to be as professional as you can, and have as much documented formal training as possible. from an employer's prospective, the certificate just doesn't hold up to the degree.

and yes, it does just boil down to "just a piece of paper" (quote from unnamed family member)
_________________
papa RT(R)(CT)

http://sites.google.com/site/delusionalradiology

never meddle in the affairs of a dragon, for you are crunchy, and taste good with ketchup