Cheryl Martin (Host): Looking for a rewarding and challenging career in healthcare? Coming up, learn about the path to becoming a radiologic technologist. Our guests this episode, the Program Director of Capital Health School of Radiologic Technology, Theresa Levitsky; the school's clinical coordinator, Jaime Taylor; and second-year student, Rebecca Sadowsky.

This is a Health Headlines podcast series from Capital Health. I'm Cheryl Martin. Theresa, Jaime, and Rebecca, glad to have you on to discuss the school. Theresa, let me begin with you, the program director. Give us a quick overview of Capital Health's School of Radiologic Technology.

Theresa Levitsky: Well, good morning. And sure, I would love to give you a quick overview of the Capital Health School of Radiologic Technology. Originally, our program was under the sponsorship of St. Francis Medical Center and was founded in 1948, first accredited in 1950. On June 19th of this year, we will celebrate our 76th graduating class of competent and compassionate radiographers who serve not only the Mercer County region but other surrounding communities.

One of the things that we're very proud of is our rich heritage and reputation. Our graduates are well-rounded and prepared to provide exceptional care for their patients because they complete quite a rigorous academic and clinical program. So many of our graduates also complete additional education in literally every specialized area of our field, such as CT scan, ultrasound, cardiac catheterization, and even education. You can find our graduates working in hospitals, imaging centers, urgent care facilities, and specialty practices such as orthopedic offices. Under the sponsorship of Capital Health, we expect to continue our long tradition of graduating exceptional RTs.

Host: What makes Capital Health School of Radiologic Technology unique, and why should prospective students apply for this program?

Theresa Levitsky: One of the things that is very apparent is that our graduates surely are unique. It would be easy to basically tout our successful outcomes, including our strong performance on the ARRT Registry Examination. However, what I think really sets us apart is our supportive mission. The core values of Capital Health, which are compassion, integrity, excellence, and teamwork, are really the framework for everything our faculty strives to accomplish through our program.

You know, a patient really can't judge us on our ability to create a good diagnostic X-ray, but they can surely judge us on our ability to provide exceptional service. Our graduates emulate these core values and promote the code of conduct for our profession each and every day, and that's what I think makes us unique and proud of our program and its graduates. Our student reputation is strong and, therefore, really attractive to prospective applicants.

Host: Speaking of prospective applicants, what are some of the qualities you're looking for and what can candidates do to stand out during the application and interview process?

Theresa Levitsky: The qualities that we look for in applicants and what they can do to stand out during the application and interview process are quite numerous because the program's admission process is quite extensive. Our well-rounded applicants are those who are not only academically prepared to succeed, but also demonstrate qualities such as teamwork, dependability, motivation, and very much so professionalism.

While a strong academic background is necessary to successfully complete our rigorous program, applicants with backgrounds in service-oriented industries and volunteerisms surely make exceptional candidates. Our admission team also looks for evidence of teamwork and dependability among our candidates for admission.

At the moment, all radiography programs are experiencing a surge of qualified applicants. So, it is often taking more than one admission cycle to be accepted into our program. The more of these qualities that an applicant demonstrates, the stronger their application is.

Host: And Theresa, how long does it usually take to complete your program?

Theresa Levitsky: Our program is a two-year full-time program.

Host: And a person can apply right out of high school or they need some college?

Theresa Levitsky: So, there are several prerequisites that are required for our program. These are general education classes of English Composition I and II, and either an algebra or statistics class. And we do have several tracks that makes our certificate program quite unique. We have many applicants that are coming into the profession as second career individuals who already document an academic degree. So, there are different pathways that applicants can pursue in order to complete our certificate program.

Host: You talked about seeing a surge in applicants. Are you finding that in this climate, this program is very attractive because there are jobs available?

Theresa Levitsky: Yes, absolutely. We have limited capacity, as do all healthcare profession academic programs, because we have to place students in clinical settings such that they can gain great clinical skills. So, all radiography programs have limited capacity, and it just sometimes takes more than one year to be accepted in the admissions cycle. And therefore, that is something that I really wouldn't want an applicant to be discouraged about. If they really want to get into the field, it's just about persistence.

Host: Jaime, how does the program prepare students for life after the program?

Jaime Taylor: So in terms of preparing our students for life after the program, our program, we really focus on multi-modalities. So, it's not just radiography. We have courses in computed tomography. They have courses taught in special procedures from the radiologists as well as a mammography course. So, the students are gaining a lot of educational experience as well as their clinical experience.

Terry and myself also have very much an open door policy. I would say right now is probably the first time in three weeks that my door has been shut. So, our door is always open for students to come for advice about future career choices, what education paths they'd like to take. So, we definitely give the students a copious amount of advice prior to graduation

Host: Talk about the types of clinical rotations students go through during the program.

Jaime Taylor: So throughout the program, our students go through four different clinical sites. We send them to three hospitals, two of which are trauma facilities. And then, one outpatient facility. So, they gain a lot of different X-ray experience. We also send students to every radiography ancillary rotation there is.

So prior to graduation, they go to every ancillary at least one if not two times. They also get an elective, so they get to choose the ancillary they'd like to go to both their first and their second year. So, most radiography programs have about 20 to 22 months of clinical. And our students do a full 24 months worth of clinical prior to graduation.

Host: What do you see as some of the biggest challenges students face during their clinical experience? And then how do you help them work through them?

Jaime Taylor: So, our students do an orientation prior to starting, but their first day of school is actually a clinical day. So, they are with patients before we've even taught them how to take an X-ray. Obviously, the program's two years long, they can't know everything. So, I think one of the biggest challenges is that they're just in rotations where they haven't even learned a procedure yet. So, they're just there to soak everything in.

I'd also say every student is in school to be a student, but not every technologist that's working is there to be a teacher. So, they gain phenomenal clinical experience from the different technologists they work with. But I'd say sometimes there's just a little bit of a learning curve going from the classroom to the clinical setting.

Host: So beyond technical skills, what would you say are some of the most important things that students learn during their clinical experience?

Jaime Taylor: Probably the most important thing that they learned during their clinical experience would be compassion. When you get into healthcare, you're here to take care of patients. So, they're learning how to care for sick patients, scared patients. And then, they're also just gaining their own medical experience.

You're always going to have a family member that's going to have a heart attack, that's going to have to go get an X-ray, that's going to have to go get an MRI. So, they're gaining experience for both themselves and future family members just to be prepared for different studies that they may have in the future.

Host: Well, Rebecca, speaking of the students, glad to have you on as a second-year student. So, now that you've spent some time in the program, what do you value most about your experience?

Rebecca Sadowsky: After spending about two years throughout the program, the thing that I value the most about this experience is the opportunity. We have the opportunity to see so many different kinds of healthcare settings and modalities of radiology being in a hospital-based program. These ancillary rotations that were mentioned before, modalities such as CT scan, MRI, radiation oncology, and even nuclear medicine, as well as being able to go to outpatient, inpatient, and operating room settings really facilitates growth academically and gives us the opportunity to see what the future could hold for us. Everyone in our class has their own little niche, their corner of radiology that they're meant to be in. And this program really pushes us outside of our comfort zone to see what kinds of new studies or medical procedures that are special to Capital Health.

Host: I'd love for you to share a moment from your clinical rotations that really helped you grow as a future technologist.

Rebecca Sadowsky: Finding one moment obviously can be hard. But if I had a specific time, I've had experience with a patient when I was with them in the emergency room where they had one X-ray ordered and then a few weeks later. I was in an inpatient rotation and had the opportunity to see that patient again after they had been in surgery and followed their journey a little bit.

And then, even a few weeks later, somehow the universe aligned and I was able to see them again in outpatient. And they really told me that having a friendly and familiar face for that patient made a difference in their experience. And they said that I had the compassion and empathy. So, I think that really made me feel the love of wanting to work in healthcare and finding that I want to be part of the patient's journey and their diagnosis, but being able to see the same patient in different stages of their healthcare journey was a really meaningful experience.

Host: That's great. You've already kind of touched on this. How has this program changed your perspective on patient care or healthcare overall?

Rebecca Sadowsky: Throughout the program, my perspective on patient care and healthcare has definitely changed because radiology is not just about taking images. We utilize patient care in every interaction with the patients, their family members, and we see these patients on their worst day, and it is our job to give them the best patient care possible and have a huge focus on patient safety.

When we're in the program, our program director and clinical coordinators always say, "You want to treat your patients how you would treat family members." And that even humanizes the work that we're doing. We're not just going in and taking a chest X-ray. We're taking a chest X-ray of someone's family member. So, that gives us some perspective, and it really just helps us to know that we want to give every patient empathy and have a lot of patience for our patients.

Host: So, what advice would you give someone considering applying to the program, something you valued throughout your experience?

Rebecca Sadowsky: Advice that I have valued throughout my experience that I've even gotten from previous students and technologists in the classroom setting is having really good time management and organization. You're not just balancing being in school, you're balancing being in school as well as in a clinical experience on top of just work-life balance.

So, it is really important that you have that management, you have multiple calendars that are color organized, so you are ready to go into class or clinical every single day and be prepared for that day. But then in a different aspect, being in the clinical setting, you really just want to jump at every opportunity.

Whether you know the exam or not, you want to have your eyes and ears open because before you've learned that X-ray, they're doing it in the healthcare setting, and you can see how one tech does it, and it can give you a new perspective, new strategies. And you can ask that technologist questions and learn something new that you're not just learning in the classroom. So, it is really a mold between learning the technical aspect and what's done in practice. So, I think that being open to new opportunities as well as just your own time management has been immensely helpful in this program.

Host: And what would you say to a person who's kind of on the edge? They know that they want a career in healthcare, but they're not sure if this should be the actual discipline. What would you say?

Rebecca Sadowsky: I would say that it is a great starting point where you have that opportunity that I mentioned to see so many different aspects of radiology as well as healthcare. You can find yourself loving outpatient. And then, you have that opportunity to spend your professional life in an outpatient facility. Some people love being in trauma centers. If you like your hands in the patient, then you are built for a trauma situation and center. So, I definitely say just jump at the opportunity to apply for this kind of program and get into this field because it's amazing to see how we are the eyes of medicine. Every patient that comes in to an emergency room or even just going to their doctor, they order imaging and they order labs. So, we get to really be the eyes for those radiologists and doctors.

Host: Well, your passion is evident. Thank you so much, Rebecca. Terry, I want to close with you with this question. Looking ahead, how do you hope to see the program grow and evolve? And then, what excites you most about its future?

Theresa Levitsky: So, having been an RT for more than 40 years, I am always amazed by the possibilities that the field of radiography has, our program growth and evolution, and what excites us about its future. I would say that we are surely in exciting times. For many years, the field of radiologic technology has been on the forefront of computer-enhanced technology, and that's no different today than it was when I was entering the field.

The opportunities for more accurate and more efficient diagnosis through imaging and therapeutic technologies will continue to evolve and is really being enhanced by artificial intelligence. So much like a hybrid car, we now blend many of our technologies and the possibilities seem almost unimaginable.

That being said, none of our technologies can ever replace the human touch and the importance of compassion, which I think Jaime and Rebecca have both touched on. So, our program will continue to stay true to our foundation while we will look for opportunities to expand educational offerings in these up-and-coming specialty areas. What surely won't change is our focus on core values, which are so very important to the health and wellbeing of all of our patients.

Host: Very well said. Let me say again, Theresa Levitsky, Jaime Taylor, and Rebecca Sadowski, thank you for giving us just a great overview of what the Capital Health School of Radiologic Technology offers. Thank you so much for being on.

Now for more information, visit capitalhealth.org/sort. Now if you found this podcast helpful, please tell others about it and share it on your social media, and be sure to check out our podcast library for other topics of interest to you. Thanks for listening to the Health Headlines podcast series from Capital Health.