UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT
Nuclear Medicine Technology Program
NMT263 Clinical Practicum III (three credits)
Fall 2007
VERSION: September 21, 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.
DESCRIPTION
This three credit hour course requires students to spend 9 hours per week in a supervised clinical experience in
the Nuclear Medicine Department at Fletcher Allen Health Care. Students will be assigned to four different work
areas during the semester, with each rotation lasting 3-4 weeks. Schedules may be changed due to unforeseen circumstances
in the clinic.
Clinic will commence Tuesday, September 4, 2007.
There will be NO clinical assignments: Monday thru Friday November 19 - 23 (Thanksgiving Recess)
The last day of clinic is Thursday, December 6, 2007.
OBJECTIVES
By the end of this course, students will:
" Be able to perform most routine diagnostic nuclear medicine studies under the supervision of a technologist
" Handle radioactive materials safely
" Have mastered radiation safety techniques
" Have an advanced understanding of clinical nuclear medicine as it applies in a hospital
" Be able to use a nuclear medicine gamma camera in a clinical setting
" Independently prepare a patient for a nuclear medicine study (ie. explaining procedure, identifying patient,
removing interfering objects, completing scan, etc.)
" Be able to use computers to process various studies without assistance
" Have an advanced understanding of nuclear medicine instrumentation and procedures
" Master the performance of appropriate equipment and produce high quality studies for interpretation by radiologists
" Become proficient in compassionate care of patients in a team-oriented healthcare environment
" Have a professional behavior and attitude
" Practice all patient privacy standards according to Fletcher Allen Health Care's compliance of HIPAA laws
" Perform successful venopunctures for the purpose of administering radiopharmaceuticals
" Have learned to think critically and communicate effectively with technologists and other hospital staff
" Be prepared to complete a successful nuclear medicine internship at clinical affiliate sites
GOAL
The goal for this course is to enable students to learn professional behaviors which will become the foundation
for future clinical experience. Each area has an expected level of performance and each will be graded using the
PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL GROWTH EVALUATION Form. the Course Coordinators will evaluate the student at the end of each rotation with input coming
from the supervising technologists. Each student will be carefully evaluated for their growth and progress, but
also on areas of improvement. the Course Coordinators will review these evaluations with each student individually
and will be given to the student to be signed. A copy of your final PPGE result will be sent to the clinical affiliate
where you will be doing your internship.
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. You are required to be in your rotation at the start time of clinic.
"Sign in" and "sign out" on the sheets provided in the course note book located in the cabinet
next to the fax machine of the NM Department. Please do not remove the note book from this area.
At the end of clinic, your attendance sheet must be signed off by a supervising technologist you worked with that day.
* 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 847-3670 (or 7-3670 from campus) prior to the scheduled start of
your session. If she is not available, leave a message with one of the other 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.
If you miss 2 or more clinical sessions due to illness, a doctor's note must be provided. If the absence is not accompanied by a doctor's note, the absences will be unexcused and your final clinic grade will be reduced by one full letter grade.
You will be given 1 sick day and 1 late arrival without penality as long as proper call-in
procedures were followed. Any additional absentees or tardiness will reduce your final grade by 2 percentage
points for each violation.
* be mentally and physically prepared for the clinic session,
A professional 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 supervising technologist before signing out.
B. PROFESSIONAL DEMEANOR; student is expected to:
* adhere to the dress code:
Students are expected to look professional while assigned to the clinic. This means wearing neat, clean scrubs
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 dress code policy here.
Your monthly radiation exposure readings will be posted in the course notebook. Please initial beside your
readings to verify you have seen them. If you have any questions or would like a copy, you can either call
Pat at 656-2570 (or 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,
Simply put, 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 stand around conversing with technologists
or other students. Time in clinic should be spent focusing on the task at hand. Any student not adhering to this
policy will be sent home and receive a zero for the day.
* remain calm and keep composure in stressful situations.
Sometimes, things can get hectic in the clinic, especially when an emergency occurs in the department.
C. INTERPERSONAL SKILLS; student is expected to:
* accept constructive criticism from supervising technologist,
You will receive instruction while patient care is occurring. Please do not be offended if you are corrected .
You are in the clinic to learn and are allowed to make mistakes. We expect students to learn from making mistakes
and it is our goal that students do 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,
but we also want the patient to feel comfortable and have his/her questions answered. Explain the procedure to
the patient throughly and clearly.
D. INITIATIVE; student is expected to:
* prepare the room for next patient,
The room should look neat. Preparation may include tidying up the room and putting new sheets and pillow cases
on the patient table. Also, set the room and camera up for the next patient immediately following the previous
procedure unless instructed otherwise by a technologist.
* volunteer to help in the assigned room and take intiative,
At this stage of the program, we expect students to "step-up" and take the initiative to learn; observation
time will be at a minimum.
* 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,
Observe a 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 working with equipment and processing studies.
E. INTEGRITY; the student is expected to:
* maintain confidentiality of all patient information,
No information about patients is to leave the Nuclear Medicine Department. Do NOT discuss any patient outside the
department.
* accept responsibility for his / her actions,
If you are asked by the supervising technologist to do something, you are expected to do it to the best of your
abilities.
* admit errors.
Everyone makes a mistake once in a while. We expect that will happen with students. Making a mistake is not as
bad as trying to cover up a mistake or shifting the blame. Students are expected to learn from these mistakes and
not to repeat them in the future.
F. ADAPTABILITY; the student is expected to:
* responds effectively when interruptions occur.
G. CLINICAL NOTEBOOKS
All students are required to keep notes in a notebook ( it may be 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.
Notebooks will be reviewed at the end of each rotation by the supervising technologist. 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. These notebooks will assist the Clinical Coordinator to
gauge your productivity, knowledge, and progress.
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 the Course Coordinators and Louis Izzo. 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 go to the Clinical
Report Form
WRITTEN SUMMARIES
A written summary of your clinical progress will be required at the end of each month. Click here for guidelines.
FINAL PROJECT
A requirement of this course is to compile a senior project. Click here to view specifics and here for guidelines.
CLINICAL COMPETENCIES
Each student will be required to perform several competencies throughout the semester. These will serve as a measurement of your progress in clinical as well as your ability and understanding of Nuclear Medicine procedures. If a student does not receive a passing grade on a competency, they will have a chance to repeat the procedure. Both grades will be averaged together for the final grade. If a student receives TWO failing grades on competencies, they will be excused from the clinical for the remainder of the semester and receive a zero for the semester. Students will be given two chances to pass a competency, if the first attempt is failed, 10 points will be deducted from the score of the second attempt. If the student does not pass on the second attempt, he/she will receive a zero for that competency.
COMPETENCY GUIDELINES
At the end of every month, each student will be evaluated on their performance in clinical by use of the Personal and Professional Growth Evaluation. This evaluation will be reviewed with the student to highlight their strengths and areas of improvement as noted by the supervising technologists. The PPGE form is here.
Hot Lab Competency Form
Imaging Competency Form
Radiopharmacy Competency Form
Injection Competency Form
Injection checklist
Clinical Journal Spreadsheet
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.
Check the room patient schedule and note the time the procedures begin. Be in the room at least 15 minutes prior
to the start of the procedure.
See Clinic Attendance Grading Guidelines.
GRADING
The student's clinic grade will be determined by the following:
Personal and Professional Growth Evaluations (30%)
Self-Evaluation - Written Summaries (10%)
5 clinical competencies (40%)
Online clinical reports (10%)
Final Project (10%)
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
COURSE EVALUATION
Students are expected to submit a written evaluation of the clinic experience at the end of the semester.
ROTATION SCHEDULE
The rotation schedule is attached as a Microsoft Excel file. Click here.
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.