Since certification examinations are required to be practice related, ARRT periodically conducts a job analysis to make certain that the certification examination content specifications remain comprehensive, accurate, and fair. ARRT, with the help of the professional community, reviews the certification documents every five years.
The ARRT Board of Trustees recently approved changes to the examination content specifications, which go into effect on January 1, 2018.
OVERVIEW OF MAJOR CHANGES TO THE CONTENT SPECIFICATIONS
- The content was restructured from four to three major content sections, following the universal content outline that has been adopted across all ARRT disciplines.
- Conventional units of radiation measurement were removed; therefore, SI units will become the primary (principle) units of radiation measurement used on the examination in 2018.
- Patient education was added to the patient interactions and management section under the Patient Care section.
- Topics concerning the measurement and recording of radiation dose were added to the Safety section.
- Automatic exposure control was deleted from the Safety and Image Production sections.
- Image artifacts, under recognition and reporting of malfunctions, was deleted from the Image Production section.