Sustaining the medical imaging profession

The advanced medical imaging program at UC College of Allied Health Sciences launches a new clinical

Aisseta Sall, who goes by the nickname Nènè and hails from Senegal, West Africa, first witnessed the life-saving capabilities of medical imaging technology when doctors used it to diagnose a health issue she experienced as a child.

“I had to get an emergency surgery thanks to that imaging,” said Sall, a certified nuclear medicine technologist. “I thought it was cool to be able to see and tell what’s functioning in a person’s body just from injecting a small amount of radioactivity.”

This experience planted a seed of interest in Sall, which she would later cultivate into an educational pursuit at the University of Cincinnati. After immigrating to the United States in 2016, dedicating a year to learning English, and spending about a year and a half earning the math and science prerequisites required to apply to medical imaging programs, Sall began the advanced medical imaging technology (AMIT) program at UC’s College of Allied Health Sciences (CAHS) in 2020.

The AMIT program enables students to become credentialed in both nuclear medicine technology and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) while obtaining a bachelor’s degree. This innovative program differs from traditional medical imaging programs that specialize in only one diagnostic modality and are typically offered through certificate or associate degree programs that are 12–24 months in length.

By completing the bachelor’s program, UC AMIT students meet national board eligibility requirements in nuclear medicine technology and MRI and can take both licensing examinations. To accommodate students who want to pursue credentialling in only one of the modalities, the AMIT program also grants certificates.

Sall graduated with her Bachelor of Science in advanced medical imaging technology from UC in August and began working as a certified nuclear medicine technologist at a Norton Healthcare facility in Louisville, Kentucky, in September. Not only did Sall achieve her dream of landing a medical imaging job, but she is also helping to address a nationwide shortage of medical imaging technologists.

[Since I] just graduated from this program, [I feel like I’ll be] able to reassure them and tell them ‘It’s OK, I’m still learning,’ and help with their education and make them feel comfortable.

Aisseta Sall Certified nuclear medicine technologist

Expanding educational opportunities despite a deficit

If you or a loved one has ever needed medical imaging to diagnosis a disease or analyze a specific part of the body, you’ve likely interacted with nuclear medicine or MRI technologists.

The main differences between the two medical imaging modalities are that nuclear medicine techniques use small amounts of radioactive substances to depict physiology, or how a body part functions, and MRI techniques use strong magnetic fields and radio waves to depict anatomy, or a body part’s structure.

Although nuclear medicine and MRI technologists are an integral part of the U.S. health care system, there’s a nationwide shortage due to an increase in retirement rates among licensed technologists and a limited number of accredited training programs.

According to a mid-2023 article in The Journal of Nuclear Medicine, 26 accredited nuclear medicine programs were discontinued between 2012 and 2022, representing a 26.8% decrease in active programs.

While the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects overall employment of nuclear medicine technologists will decline 1% from 2023 to 2033, an average of 800 job openings are projected each year over the decade. During the same decade, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects employment of radiologic and MRI technologists will grow 6% with a projected average of 16,000 job openings each year.

Meanwhile, the demand for diagnostic procedures continues to increase as the prevalence of chronic diseases rises and the population of people ages 65 and older steadily grows in the U.S.

Aisseta Sall at Norton Helathcare Facility. She is holding a heart that says "Norton Healthcare (heart symbol) me."

Aisseta Sall at Norton Helathcare facility. Photo/provided

“There’s a nationwide shortage of technologists, but particularly in Kentucky,” said Stephanie Hug, assistant professor and director of UC’s AMIT program. “There’s only one MRI program in Kentucky, and that’s at Morehead State University, which is in the eastern part of the state. There’s no nuclear medicine technology program [in Kentucky] currently.”

To help reduce this gap in education, Hug is finalizing a clinical agreement with Norton Healthcare — which provides inpatient and outpatient general care as well as heart, neuroscience, cancer, orthopedic, women’s and pediatric specialty care in Louisville, Kentucky, and Southern Indiana — that would enable UC AMIT students to apply for a yearlong clinical placement and learn alongside Norton’s licensed technologists.

This partnership, which is expected to launch in fall 2025, will help create a pipeline of potential technologists that Norton could hire. It also provides UC’s CAHS access to another hospital system that can train students on high-level therapeutics like Pluvicto, a radiation therapy used to shrink prostate cancer cells, and Lutathera, a radioactive treatment for advanced neuroendocrine tumors.

Securing a clinical site that offers these kind of advanced learning experiences and has both experienced and early-career technologists — like Sall — who can facilitate student learning is a “huge deal,” Hug said.

Sall is excited to serve as a clinical facilitator for students once the partnership is final, recalling how much she admired the technologists and UC alumni who helped train her during her five clinical placements in the AMIT program.

“[Often], when students go to clinical sites, they are very afraid. I was in that position where I felt scared to mess up or scared of certain techs,” Sall said. “[Since I] just graduated from this program, [I feel like I’ll be] able to reassure them and tell them ‘It’s OK, I’m still learning,’ and help with their education and make them feel comfortable.”

After completing the program’s freshman and sophomore year curriculum requirements, AMIT students can apply to participate in the clinical portion of the program during their junior and senior years. Sall said her clinical placements not only reinforced what she learned in class, but they also provided invaluable hands-on training on patient communication and different protocols, therapies and technologies.

“We try to get the students to different sites so they can see different types of machines because the type of machine and who manufactures it totally changes your workflow and how you use the camera, which is a big part of a technologist’s job,” Hug said.

Moving the program and profession forward

A 2006 graduate of UC’s AMIT program, Hug has 20 years of experience as a nuclear medicine technologist, having earned her nuclear medicine certification in 2005 and her ultrasound certification the following year. The program has evolved since she was a student by securing a dedicated clinical site coordinator, expanding relationships with regional health care systems and enhancing the curriculum to include training on newer technologies and imaging techniques.

Hug said the intersection of medicine, diagnostics and advanced technology makes the AMIT program popular among students who want to work in a nursing-adjacent field. Although she only stepped into the program director role in May, Hug has served as a long-time clinical adviser for UC AMIT students and even earned her master’s degree to hone her clinical site facilitation skills. She began teaching in the program about two years ago, after she learned her mentor and then-program director Alan W. Vespie was planning to retire.

As part of her dreams for the AMIT program, Hug hopes to continue expanding the curriculum to focus on more complex types of nuclear medicine studies like positron emission tomography–computed tomography (PET-CT), which combines anatomical images from a CT scan with physiological images from a PET scan. She’s also interested in having students cross-train with other radiography programs and reintroducing ultrasound training back into the AMIT program.

In the meantime, Hug will continue to invest in students like Sall, who will mature into skilled technologists and instrumental mentors for future students, ultimately sustaining the growth of the medical imaging profession.

Aisseta Sell sits in front of an imaging machine. Photo/provided

Featured image at top: Aisseta Sall in front of her poster presentation. Photo/provided

Start your journey today!

Interested in advancing your career in medical imaging? Learn how UC's advanced medical imaging technology program prepares students for dual credentialing in nuclear medicine and MRI while addressing critical health care shortages. Explore our innovative curriculum, hands-on training opportunities and clinical partnerships by visiting our website.

Katie Coburn

Writer

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