Cox College officials David Frazier and Sandra Shawgo teamed up to revise CoxHealth's radiographic technician program to begin offering a two-year associate's degree. Students graduating in 2010 will begin receiving the new degree, which meets industry certification board requirements.
Health system adds associate's degree program for radiography
By Chris Meadows
Posted online
CoxHealth was granted permission by the Higher Learning Commission Board of Directors to launch a new Associate of Science in Radiography degree, and as a result, the health system is transitioning its certification program to Cox College.
The health system announced Jan. 13 that it is closing the CoxHealth School of Diagnostic Imaging, converting the 11-month radiographic technician certificate program to a two-year associate degree track to keep pace with industry certification board requirements.
Radiography technicians’ training includes taking and interpreting X-rays of all parts of the body, as well as taking X-rays during surgery. Once they become certified, technicians may begin working or continue their education in one of CoxHealth’s seven advanced specialty programs, which also are being moved to Cox College, and accept students from other radiographic schools.
CoxHealth has offered a certification program since 1954, combining 1,600 hours of clinical experience with classroom teaching, said David Frazier, dean of health sciences at Cox College and program director of the School of Radiologic Technology.
But in summer 2009, the American Registry of Radiological Technicians mandated that beginning in 2015, those who want to register as accredited radiological technicians must have at least an associate’s degree.
Cox has been aware the change was coming for some time. Frazier said that CoxHealth has been looking at changing to a degree program since 2006. Frazier, who graduated from the CoxHealth radiography program in 1991, said that staying under the CoxHealth umbrella and maintaining a good working relationship with the health system was essential.
“Our students do their clinical rotations there, they build their experience there, our clinical instructors are in the radiology departments throughout the CoxHealth system,” he said. “That relationship is one of the keys to the continued success of our program.”
The change from a certificate to degree program presented a number of curriculum challenges. One challenge was that the certificate program’s curriculum covered 11 months, while colleges such as Cox College are semester-based.
“If you follow the typical college model where students go in the spring and fall and maybe the summer, we’d be losing a lot of educational time within that two years,” Frazier said.
Sandra Shawgo, the School of Radiologic Technology’s clinical coordinator, was in charge of revising the curriculum and fitting all 1,600 hours of clinical experience into the compressed timescale of the new program. The experience students gain in that time, which is considerably more than the minimum required by the registry board, is vital to the quality of CoxHealth’s program, she said.
“Our students can walk out the day they graduate and actually work in a department,” Shawgo added, noting that on-the-job training isn’t needed.
Eric Rogers, president of Missouri Society of Radiologic Technologists and managing partner of American Mobile Radiology, has hired two radiologists from Cox’s program for his business.
“The caliber of students Cox produces is among the top in the state, from a clinical competence and didactic competence perspective,” he said.
The new degree program offers benefits beyond eligibility for ARRT registration.
“The courses they take as part of the certificate program are not awarded college credit, unless they are enrolled into the Bachelor of Science in Radiography at MSU,” Frazier said.
Classes taken through the associate’s degree program will count for college credit, but only classes taken for college credit will be recognized for transfer to other colleges.
Tuition for the two-year associate’s degree program is $12,500, while the certification was $5,000. Rogers said the expansion to the associate’s degree level stands to improve the program.
“Imaging isn’t just providing a service, it’s also patient care and communication. An associate’s degree will enable a well-rounded individual to offer a multifaceted care plan, including the technical end of things with equipment, and the emotional and personal concepts of human care,” he said.
Students graduating in 2012 will receive the first associate degrees in radiography. Students graduating in 2010 and 2011 will receive certificates from Cox College, but they will be grandfathered under the ARRT’s current eligibility requirements.[[In-content Ad]]
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