Are you working on an ARRT credential using the postprimary eligibility pathway? Or thinking about doing so?
If so, you should know that beginning Jan. 1, 2020, we’ll limit how many clinical experience entries you can report for each day.
WHAT ARE THE LIMITS?
The number of clinical experience entries you can report each day varies depending on the discipline.
DAILY REPORTING LIMITS FOR CLINICAL EXPERIENCE ENTRIES
| Discipline | Entries Allowed Each Day |
|---|---|
| Bone Densitometry | 15 |
| Breast Sonography | 9 |
| Cardiac Interventional Radiography | 8 |
| Computed Tomography (CT) | 9 |
| MRI | 7 |
| Mammography | 16 |
| Vascular Interventional Radiography | 6 |
| Vascular Sonography | 28 |
Clinical experience entries include both the different procedures you perform and the number of repetitions you perform of each procedure. Remember: we’re limiting only the number of entries you can report per day, not the number you can perform.
HOW DO THE LIMITS AFFECT WHAT I REPORT?
The best way to explain how the limits work is by using examples.
Let’s say you’re working on a CT credential. In that case, you may report no more than nine clinical experience entries on a given day. For instance, you could report nine procedures that you performed one time each. Alternatively, you could report a variety of repetitions of different procedures; we've shown several examples below.
CT REPORTING EXAMPLE 1
| Procedure | Repetitions |
|---|---|
| Head Without Contrast | 4 |
| Liver (Multiphase) | 5 |
| Total | 9 |
CT REPORTING EXAMPLE 2
| Procedure | Repetitions |
|---|---|
| Head Without Contrast (CT) | 3 |
| Cervical Spine | 3 |
| Sinuses | 3 |
| Total | 9 |
If you’re working on a Mammography credential, the same principles apply—but the number of entries allowed per day is 16 instead of nine.
MAMMOGRAPHY REPORTING EXAMPLE
| Procedure | Repetitions |
|---|---|
| Screening Mammogram | 8 |
| Needle Localization | 4 |
| Diagnostic Mammogram | 4 |
| Total | 16 |
In most cases, the way you combine clinical experience entries is up to you—as long as you don’t exceed the entries allowed per day and you meet all other clinical experience requirements for your discipline.
Keep track of all the procedures and repetitions you do. Then report clinical experience entries in the way that best enables you to meet your requirements. If you’ve already reported some clinical experience entries, it’s OK to exchange them for others—as long as you performed the new entries on the same day as those you originally reported, and you don’t exceed your daily reporting limit.
DO THE DAILY LIMITS APPLY BEFORE JAN. 1, 2020?
No. The reporting limits apply only to clinical experiences you perform on or after Jan. 1, 2020. If you perform them beforehand—even if you don’t start a postprimary eligibility pathway worksheet until Jan. 1, 2020, or afterward—those clinical experiences won’t be subject to the limits.
Keep in mind, though, that clinical experience entries expire after 24 months. So be sure to complete all your requirements no more than 24 months before you apply using a postprimary eligibility pathway.
WHY HAVE LIMITS?
The limit encourages you to use the learning strategy of distributed practice—that is, of extending your learning rather than “cramming.”
Studies show that people learn more effectively when they experience a greater number of relatively short training sessions, distributed over a longer time, instead of fewer, longer sessions over a shorter time. That learning model applies to both cognitive knowledge and psychomotor skills.