Nuclear Medicine Technology Program

NMT-163 Clinical Practicum I (one credit)
Fall 2007

Course Coordinator: Jennifer Simpson Smith and Jillian Turner

Course Advisor: Louis M. Izzo

Supervising Technologists: Rocel Aguillon, Christy Bowman, Chelsea Bullard, Jesse Guterres, Richard Lew, Steve Relation, Jennifer Simpson Smith, Ed Tumielewicz, Jillian Turner, Christin Young,

CLINICAL ROTATION Schedule (it is in Microsoft Excel format).

DESCRIPTION
This one credit hour course requires students to spend 1 hour 50 minutes per week in a supervised clinical experience in the Nuclear Medicine Department at Fletcher Allen Health Care or within the diagnostic modalities of FAHC radiology. Students will be assigned to various work areas during the semester, with each rotation lasting 2 -3 weeks. Rotation schedules may be changed by the Course Coordinators due to unforeseen circumstances in the clinic.

There will be NO clinical assignments on the week of August 27 (First week of classes)

CLINIC SCHEDULE

September 4, 2007 (Tuesday) Clinic starts

November 19 - 23, 2007 (Monday through Friday) Thanksgiving Recess

December 6, 2007 (Thursday) last day of clinic

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

By the end of this course, students will:

" Have been introduced to most routine diagnostic nuclear medicine studies
" Recognize the principles of the safe handling of radioactive materials
" Be familiar with radiation safety techniques
" Have a basic understanding of clinical nuclear medicine as it applies in a hospital
" Understand the function and use of a nuclear medicine gamma camera in a clinical setting
" Have a basic understanding of nuclear medicine instrumentation and procedures
" Become proficient in compassionate care of patients in a team-oriented healthcare environment
" Learn professional behaviors and attitudes (ie. Dress code, being on time, taking notes, asking questions, etc.)
" Practice all patient privacy standards according to Fletcher Allen Health Care's compliance of HIPAA laws

GOAL
The goal for this course is to enable students to learn professional behaviors which will become the foundation for future clinical experience. Also, to provide a broad understanding of the imaging modalities that are used in conjunction with Nuclear Medicine scanning. There are 7 main areas that we will focus on this semester. Each has an expected level of performance and each will be graded using the PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL GROWTH EVALUATION Form (See attached sample). The Course Coordinators will evaluate the student at the end of each rotation with input from the supervising technologists. The completed evaluation will be reviewed by The Course Coordinators with each student and is to be signed with his/her signature.

A. RELIABILITY; student is expected to:
* arrive at clinic on time and sign in / out:
It is expected that students will arrive BEFORE the scheduled start time for each clinic session. "Sign in" and "sign out" on the sheets provided in the note book located in the technologist workstation in the NM Department.

* attend all scheduled assignments or makeup missed assignments:
If you will be absent or late for a clinic session, you are required to call the Course Coordinators at 847-3670 (or 7-3670 on campus) prior to the scheduled start of your session. If she is not available, leave a message with one of the technologists.

There are no excused absences. All missed clinic time must be made up within 2 weeks and before the last day of final exams. Arrangements to make up a missed clinic session must be made as soon as possible, and in person or via email, with the Course Coordinators. A notation will be made on the time sheet about the make up arrangements.

All make up sessions will be in the same rotation as missed, if possible.

Failure to makeup a missed session or tardiness in a particular rotation will result in a reduction in the final clinic grade by one whole grade.

Failure to phone in an absence or a missed session will result in a reduction in the final clinical grade by one-half of a grade.

* be mentally and physically prepared for the clinic session,
A professional technologist will get sufficient sleep so as to be energized and ready to function in the clinic.

* notify the supervising technologist before leaving clinic.
If, for some reason, you must leave early, please notify the Course Coordinators. If she is not available, notify your supervising technologist, and note the departure on your attendance sheet.

B. PROFESSIONAL DEMEANOR; the student is expected to:
* adhere to the dress code:
Students are expected to look like a "professional" while assigned to the clinic. This means wearing neat, clean scurbs along with a full-length white lab coat (provided by FAHC). The dress code also involves wearing the FAHC ID badge as well as the radiation monitor and ring badge. Please see the detailed policy here.

Your monthly radiation exposure readings will be posted in the course notebook in the workstation.  Please initial by your readings to verify you have seen it.  If you have any questions or would like a copy, you can either call Pat Dartt at 6-2570, or you can request it from the RSO web page at: www.uvm.edu/~radsafe

* treat patients, technologists, and other health professionals with respect,

Communicate with patients and family in a professional manner. This is extremely important. Most patients want to be treated this way because it portrays you are knowledgable and cautious of what you are doing. It is a way to set your patients minds at ease about their test. Follow the Golden Rule- "Treat others as you would like to be treated".

* refrain from conversation that excludes the patient,
The patient must always be the center of focus in the clinic. Do NOT converse with other students about issues and topics that are not inclusive of clinical. Tiime in clinic should be spent focusing on teh task at hand. Any student not adhering to this policy will be sent home and receive a zero for that day.

* remain calm and keep your composure in stressful situations.
Sometimes, things can get a little hectic, especially when an emergency occurs in the department. Professionals are expected to deal with the situation in a calm, unemotional manner.

C. INTERPERSONAL SKILLS; the student is expected to:
* accept constructive criticism from supervising technologist,
Please do not be offended if you are corrected because you are in the clinic to learn and are allowed to make mistakes. We expect students to learn from making mistakes, and our goal is that you not repeat mistakes.

* speak and listen well with patients, their families, supervising technologist, and other members of the health care team.
Converse with patients, their families and the technologists, remembering that the procedure needs to be done efficiently. We aim for the patient to feel comfortable and have his/her questions answered to the best of your ability/ knowledge. A correct answer to a question can be as simple as, "I am not absolutely sure of the correct answer. Let me ask the supervising technologist and I will find out for you."

D. INITIATIVE; student is expected to:
* prepare the room for next patient,
Preparation may include tidying up the room and putting new sheets and pillow cases on the patient table.

* volunteer to help in the assigned room,
We expect students to "step-up" and take the initiative to learn, not passively sit or stand around watching.

* make constructive use of "downtime" in assigned room.
The room that you have been assigned to will occasionally have some "downtime", that is, reduced work load due to patient numbers or machine maintenance or repair. The student should check with the supervising technologist to arrange a reassignment. Here are some possibilities:

-Be assigned to another room,
-Watch the physician read NM films in the "reading room",
-Update your Notebook,
-Look over the department procedure manuals,
-read Nuclear Medicine journals found in the Nuclear Medicine Department.

-practice drawing saline in the Hot Lab using syringe sheilds to get practice on handling "doses"

E. INTEGRITY; the student is expected to:
* maintain confidentiality of all patient information,
Patients have arights regarding confidentiality of their medical information, therefore, NO information about patients is to leave the Nuclear Medicine Department. This is very serious and any breaches of this policy will not be tolerated.

* accept responsibility for his / her actions,
If you are asked by the supervising technologist to do something, please do it to the best of your ability.  All tasks and projects are an important part of a team-orientated department.

* admit errors.
Everyone makes a mistake once in a while, so if it does happen to you, tell your supervising technologist. Making a mistake is not as bad as trying to cover up a mistake or shifting the blame.

F. ADAPTABILITY; the student is expected to:
* responds effectively when interruptions occur.

Some days, the Department can get quite hectic and you might be reassigned to a different area than your original assignment.

G. CLINICAL NOTEBOOKS
We highly recommend that all students keep notes in a notebook ( it is beneficial to have one which fits into your lab coat pocket). Students should record the radiopharmacy, procedures, camera technique, and processing used for each type of exam or task performed.

The notes will be an excellent resource as you proceed through the program. By reviewing their notes, students can quickly reacquaint themselves with a room and its procedures. The notebook should be organized in such a way that information can be readily retrieved. A small 2-ring binder notebook has been found to be useful so that notes can be added and reorganized.

CLINICAL REPORTS
Students are required to fill out a web-based form within 24-hours of the completion of each clinic assignment. This form will be e-mailed to Louis Izzo and to the Course Coordinators. It is expected that your report will be detailed enough to provide good documentation of what you have accomplished in your clinic session. This, coupled with the PPE will be helpful to make sure that you are making good progress in the clinic.

Click here to get to the form.

WRITTEN SUMMARIES

Each student must submit a written summary of your clinical progress at the end of each month.  Click here for guidelines.

FINAL PROJECT

Due on the final day of clinical. See guidelines

ATTENDANCE PROCEDURES
Proceed to your assigned room and check in with the supervising technologist. Stay with him / her unless you are reassigned to another room. Have a supervising technologist who you worked with that day initial beside your attendance sign up for that day.

Check the room patient schedule and note the time the procedures begin. Be in the room at that time.

Attendance is an important aspect of clinical, this semester is to introduce you to the clinical environment. Although Nuclear Medicine concepts and knowledge is still being acquired, the opportunity to observe and have a "hands-on" approach compliments classroom instruction.

See Clinic Attendance Grading Guidelines.

GRADING
The student's clinic grade will be determined by the following:

Personal and Professional Growth Evaluations (50%)

Online Clinical Reports (10%)

Written Summary Reports (20%)

Final Project (20%)

see Grading Form.

GRADE
90-100 "A" - high quality clinical work and excellent progress
80-90 "B" - above average quality clinical work and good progress
70-80 "C" - average quality work and minimal progress
60-69 "D" - minimum quality work and virtually no progress during the first semester.

<60 "F" poor quality

"+" and "-" may be attached to the letter grade at the discretion of the Course Coordinator and Student Coordinator.

COURSE SURVEY
Students are expected to submit a written summary of your clinic experience at the end of the semester.

CLINICAL JOURNAL

Click here for the Log Sheet

CLINICAL ROTATION SCHEDULE

Click here for the rotation schedule for the Fall 2007 semester (it is in Microsoft Excel format).

Directions to PharmaLogic

CLINIC SUPERVISION POLICY
Students are always directly supervised during their clinical experiences. The degree of supervision is commensurate with the amount of experience and the amount of competency demonstrated by the student. At no time are students ever placed in a position of doing clinical work as a replacement for a certified technologist.

LOCKERS

Please obtain a locker in the Rowell Building to store your personal belongings rather than bringing them to the clinic. Go to the Office of Student Services in the ground level of Rowell for a locker assignment. You will have to provide your own lock.

RADIATION EXPOSURE - students can make an online request for a record of their monthly whole body and hand exposures by contacting the UVM Radiation Safety Office.