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ARRT Seeks Comments on Proposed Changes to Vascular Interventional (VI) Radiography Documents

Published on Feb 28, 2022

The American Registry of Radiologic Technologists (ARRT) is looking for help from working professionals in Vascular Interventional (VI) Radiography. We encourage you to review the proposed changes to our VI Radiography Examination Content Specifications and Clinical Experience Requirements.

Our goal is to produce comprehensive, accurate, and fair documents that cover the knowledge and cognitive skills required of VI radiographers. ARRT’s examinations are job-related. That is, we only include topics if knowledge of those areas relates directly to a clinical activity typically required in one’s job. We recently sent a survey of possible tasks and procedures to 1,200 current VI radiographers to determine these topics. We used the survey results to update our content specifications and clinical experience requirements. 

The ARRT VI Radiography Practice Analysis Committee (made up of subject matter experts from throughout the United States) began working on these documents in June 2021 and will complete work on them in spring 2022. After that, ARRT’s Board of Trustees will review the proposed changes. The revised VI radiography documents have a scheduled implementation date of July 1, 2023.   

SUMMARY OF MAJOR PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE EXAMINATION CONTENT SPECIFICATIONS

Patient Care Section

  • We added content to the patient assessment and preparation area and the emergency care area. We removed infection control because it is covered on our Radiography exam. We added scrubbing under asepsis and sterile technique.

Image Production Section

  • We added postprocessing and procedural equipment.

Procedures Section

  • Under vascular diagnostic procedures, we added lymphangiography.
  • Under vascular interventional procedures, we added: percutaneous thrombin injection; port (removal); and PICC line placement.
  • Under nonvascular procedures, we added: antegrade urography; suprapubic catheter placement; percutaneous enteric tube evaluation; epidural steroid injection; lumbar puncture; myelogram; abscess, fistula, or sinus tract study. We expanded drainage procedures to include catheter placement, drainage, removal, and change.
  • Under nonvascular procedures, we removed percutaneous stone extraction and discography. 

The total number of scored questions remains the same at 160, but the number of items in each sections changed.   

SUMMARY OF THE MAJOR PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE CLINICAL EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENTS

  • We reorganized the procedures to more closely follow the order in which we list procedures on the Content Specifications. We divided procedures into three categories: Vascular Diagnostic, Vascular Interventional, and Nonvascular. At least 50 repetitions must be in Vascular Diagnostic, at least 50 repetitions must be in Vascular Interventional, at least 50 repetitions must be in Nonvascular, and the remaining exams can be from any of the categories. The minimum total number of repetitions required remains the same at 200.     
  • Each selected procedure must have a minimum of five repetitions and a maximum of 10 repetitions.
  • We added the following Vascular Diagnostic Procedures: intracranial arteriography; bronchial arteriography; celiac arteriography; gonadal venography; hepatic venography; portal venography; physiologic pressure measurements; and lymphangiography.
  • We added the following Vascular Interventional Procedures: percutaneous thrombin injection; distal protection device placement; and transvenous biopsy.
  • We added the following Nonvascular Procedures: antegrade urography through an existing catheter; suprapubic catheter placement; percutaneous enteric tube evaluation; vertebroplasty/kyphoplasty; epidural steroid injection; lumbar puncture; myelogram; percutaneous biopsy; and abscess, fistula, or sinus tract study. Drainage procedures were subdivided into four separate areas: percutaneous drainage with or without placement of catheter (excluding thoracentesis or paracentesis), removal of percutaneous drainage catheter (e.g., tunneled, nontunneled), change of percutaneous tube or drainage catheter, and tunneled drainage catheter placement (e.g., thoracic, abdominal).
  • We removed these Nonvascular Procedures: discography and percutaneous stone extraction (e.g., renal, biliary).
  • Additionally, we updated wording for clarification and consistency.

REVIEW THE DOCUMENTS AND PROVIDE FEEDBACK

We invite you to review the documents below and provide feedback through an online survey (live until April 1, 2022). The survey is the official method by which we track feedback. The VI Radiography Practice Analysis Committee will review all comments and may make additional changes based on your feedback.

Note: Additions are in blue, and deletions are in strikethrough red in the drafts.

QUESTIONS?

If you have questions about how the proposed changes could affect your eligibility for certification and registration in VI Radiography, contact us using the Message Center function in your online ARRT account. Or call 651.687.0048 and select the option for earning an ARRT credential.

Thank you for your contribution to this important project!