ACR Approves Statement on Radiologist Assistant Functions
Contact: Cary Boshamer
(703) 716-7540
E-mail: caryb@acr.org
Reston, Va. –– With radiologists facing a workforce shortage of near-crisis proportions, the American College of Radiology Council has approved a policy statement regarding the roles and responsibilities of a radiologist assistant. The ACR and the American Society of Radiologic Technologists jointly developed the statement, approved during the ACR's recent 80th Annual Meeting and Chapter Leadership Conference.
ACR officials believe the development of the radiologist assistant position will relieve some of the time pressures experienced by radiologists due to ongoing workforce shortages, thereby permitting them to devote available resources to more productive patient care tasks. Additionally, the creation of a radiologist assistant will help address the current shortage of radiologic technologists by creating a professionally appealing career path.
"This new position will no doubt further change the way we practice radiology," said E. Stephen Amis Jr., M.D., chairman of the ACR Board of Chancellors. "The ACR accepted the challenge of being a leader on this issue and effecting a positive outcome rather than continuing to allow economic and political pressures to control this critical aspect of radiology. We feel that this will produce a worthwhile outcome that will allow us to address our critical workforce needs while ensuring the highest level of care for our patients."
The radiologist assistant is identified as an "advanced-level radiologic technologist who works under the supervision of a radiologist to enhance patient care by assisting the radiologist in the diagnostic imaging environment." As conceived, the radiologist assistant will not interpret radiological examinations nor transmit observations other than to the supervising radiologist.
In addition to radiologist-supervised patient assessment and management, the radiologist assistant would perform selected exams, including:
- Obtaining consent for and injecting agents that facilitate or enable diagnostic imaging
- Obtaining clinical history from patient or medical record
- Performing pre- and post-procedure evaluation of patients undergoing invasive procedures
- Assisting radiologists with invasive procedures
- Performing fluoroscopy for non-invasive procedures with the radiologist providing direct supervision of the service
- Monitoring and tailoring selected exams under direct supervision (e.g., IVU, CT urogram, GI studies, VCIG and retrograde urethrograms)
- Communicating the reports of the radiologist's findings to the referring physician or an appropriate representative with appropriate documentation
- Providing naso-enteric and oro-enteric feeding tube placement in uncomplicated patients
- Performing selected peripheral venous diagnostic procedures
The ACR is a national professional organization serving more than 32,000 radiologists, radiation oncologists, interventional radiologists and medical physicists with programs focusing on the practice of radiology and the delivery of comprehensive health care services.
May 2003