The Training of X-ray Technicians

Abstract

THIRTY years ago it required the combined efforts of a professional photographer, a good electrician, and a trained physicist to produce satisfactory roentgenograms; and the three working together could not produce even diagnostic plates consistently. The improvement and simplification of X-ray apparatus, the Coolidge tube and duplitized film with standard factors of development, have so simplified the technical end of roentgenology that a person can be taught in a few hours to make X-ray exposures and to develop films. However, the acquiring of a working knowledge of anatomy, a satisfactory medical vocabulary, familiarity with the ordinary nursing procedures, and practical experience are about as difficult of acquisition as they were in 1900. Is it desirable to employ trained technicians in X-ray work, or shall we use those who know only enough to push a lever when a bell rings? Do roentgenologists want a few robots that buzz for the “big boss.” when the filament does not light or some minor adjustment is not made; or do they want intelligent, trained assistants? The first step in the training of X-ray technicians is the selection of satisfactory students, and this selection often proves to be the most difficult single factor. The usual procedure at the Colorado General Hospital is to have a personal interview with each applicant. Only women who are at least high school graduates are even considered for acceptance. They are asked the routine questions as to their social status—married or single, widowed or divorced, age, educational qualifications, year of graduation from school, what they have done since, and why they wish to take up X-ray work. Answers are written down as they are given. When these are compiled, we occasionally find an applicant graduated from high school at ten years of age, or younger—honesty is one of the requirements for admission to the course. Students have been accepted as young as sixteen and as old as forty-six, but most of them have been in the early twenties. If the personal interview is satisfactory, the young woman is advised to make a written application. These applications are kept on file and, when a vacancy occurs, are examined and the best one is selected. Five girls are kept in training; every two or three months one completes the course, at which time a new student is received. The girl selected is given a mental test at the Colorado Psychopathic Hospital and the I.Q. (intelligence quotient) must be 100 or over. A high school diploma means little, but it has been found that the quality of the students' work follows closely their I.Q. rating. When finally accepted the technician-in-training signs and is given a signed contract. This contract provides: 1. A course of training for twelve full calendar months. 2. That for services rendered students are to receive instruction, experience, and training in the X-ray Department.