GROTON, Conn. - National Radiologic Technology Week is being celebrated from Nov. 8 to 14. The purpose of National Radiologic Technology Week is to honor the critical role medical imaging and radiation therapy professionals, known as Radiologic Technologists, play in health care. The special week of recognition was established over 30 years ago to coincide with the Nov. 8, 1895 discovery of x-rays by German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen. The week is not only used to honor technologists, but is also used to educate non-technologists about the profession and increase awareness regarding advances in the medical imaging and radiation therapy fields.
The medical imaging field includes a wide group of processes that create images of the internal structures of the body while remaining noninvasive in nature. As medical imaging practice has advanced from its elementary beginnings, the development of technologies such as mammography, ultrasound, computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positive emission tomography (PET) and single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) has revolutionized the field. As members of one of the most rapidly growing fields in medicine, highly skilled Radiologic Technologists are the key to acquiring the high quality images that provide health care providers the ability to "see" inside the body. This year's theme by the American Society of Radiologic Technologists - "Radiologic Technologists - Improving health care one image at a time" - says it all.
Naval Health Clinic New England (NHCNE) has 21 military and civilian technologists on its staff, serving side-by-side within four clinics spread across four New England states. Together they have provided top-quality radiography, ultrasound, mammography, bone density and computed tomography images for over 15,000 patients this past year. Each has been highly trained, either in the Navy's 13-month Radiologic Technologist "C" School or in local colleges. Currently, two NHCNE technologists are deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, serving with an Emergency Medical Facility and United States Marine Corps units, and four others had completed combat deployments over the past two years. Every one of these accomplished professionals is dedicated to the art and science of radiography and to their important role in skillfully providing "high-tech" patient care.
*X-ray facts from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia