NVCI Recognized as Clinical Education Setting for Radiation Therapy
The College of Southern Nevada (CSN) in Las Vegas recently received Joint Review Committee on Education in Radiologic Technology (JCERT) accreditation. As it says on the Certificate of Recognition, Nevada Cancer Institute (NVCI) is now part of “a recognized clinical education setting for the radiation therapy program” with CSN.
NVCI is involved with CSN because their students do their clinical training at the Institute’s flagship facility. These students work closely with the radiation therapists there to learn how to perform the hands-on portion of their training in a real medical setting.
NVCI has been accepting and working with CSN students for two years now, and has proved to be so successful that one of the students, Jimmy Barrios, was hired from the program. Barrios has been working at NVCI as a radiation therapist for five months.
JCERT is a committee that promotes excellence in education and enhances quality and safety of patient care through the accreditation of educational programs. CSN went through an intense process in order to obtain their accreditation. Part of that process was assuring that the clinical facilities used to train students operate with the high standards themselves.
NVCI was recognized as a clinical educational setting by JCERT because of the high standards of its Radiation Oncology Department and of NVCI as an organization. Some of these standards are the achievement of American College of Radiation Oncology accreditation by our department, licensing of all treatment machines, proper certification of all therapists, a therapist student ratio of at least 1:1 and proper radiation safety standards.
Accreditation of educational programs is crucial to the medical community. When educational programs are accredited, the medical professionals coming out of those programs are much better practitioners. These practitioners provide improved patient care and safety. It is important for NVCI to be involved in helping future medical technologists get the practical experience they need in the workplace. Providing a clinical site for CSN is another step in fulfilling the mission of NVCI by improving the education of future radiation therapists.
