Ontario Association of Medical Radiation Technologists
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DEGREE INITIATIVE UPDATE

The position of the Association, as detailed in OAMRT Position Statement " POSN 02-02-03 is:

It is the position of the Association that undergraduate education programs for each of our Official Disciplines shall be at the Baccalaureate level, offered through a degree granting institute and culminating in a Baccalaureate degree

It is on the above position that the platform has been established concerning the Association's Degree Initiative. It is on this platform on which collaboration with the CAMRT, through its Committee on Degree Implementation(CODI) is founded. It is this platform on which the Association wishes to strategically position the profession in Ontario in order to meet the expectations of the public in the health care system of tomorrow.

The OAMRT believes that as the Association representing the Medical Radiation Technology profession that it is the appropriate body to set the standards for entry into the profession both clinically and academically in collaboration with key stakeholders. The OAMRT is the driver for the profession in Ontario. Further, it believes that stakeholders in protecting the public and educating potential practitioners of the profession should be responsive to the needs of the profession and embrace the standards the profession sets as long as they are in the public good; which the Degree initiative is.

To build on our platform of the Degree Initiative, the OAMRT has taken three important steps; they being:

Working with the CMRTO to inform Medical Radiation Technologists and educators as to the mind sets of both the CMRTO and the OAMRT regarding the Degree Initiative, as well as the roles of both organizations
Hiring a government relations consultant to educate the Association leadership in the nuances of effective collaborative relations with government to open the right doors to address sour issues; a major one being the Degree Initiative
Striking a Special Committee to look at the ways and means of effectively and efficiently moving the Degree Initiative forward in concert with the processes already in place.

Presently in process are activities which include:

Collaboration with CODI
Cooperation and collaboration with the CMRTO
Dialogue with non-degree granting MRT undergraduate programs and those already with the Degree exit route established
Meetings with government
Exchange of information with other Provincial MRT Associations
Gathering of information from other heath care Associations who are already in the degree environment or considering it.

Both the CMRTO and the government have no basic objection to the profession requiring a degree to practice. The government, in fact, had an expectation that this would happen given the sophistication of our profession.

Within our profession moving to a Degree is not unanimous. The OAMRT Board of Directors recognizes this situation. They also recognize that the major objection is from a specific sector of the Membership and relies mainly to those who are retiring from the profession in the near term or those who have not educated themselves on the issue in total.

There are two major obstacles slowing the momentum of the Degree Initiative; they being:

The looming shortage of Radiological Technologists and MRI Technologists.
Funding for undergraduate education MRT programs in an environment for the competing dollar and other resources.

In the government's eyes, the Degree Initiative could be very slow paced until the short term shortage situation is resolved allowing for undergraduate programs to evolve into degree granting routes and meeting the supply needs.

The funding issue is a particular problem for the Ministry of Training Colleges and Universities because of the demands on government for the scarce dollars. It is the OAMRT's intention to assist the Mohawk College / McMaster University proposal process where we can as this, we believe, would be a catalyst for the other Community College MRT programs being that the Mohawk/McMaster degree granting program would be the first in the Community College family.

The OAMRT Leadership is very optimistic that the future is here and that future is a degree for all MRTs and is working on behalf of the welfare of the profession to make that future be the present.

Document last modified:
July 28, 2010

Ontario Association of Medical Radiation Technologists ©2009 All Rights Reserved
P.O. Box 1054, Brantford, Ontario, Canada, N3T 5S7
233 Colborne Street, Suite 101, N3T 2H4
Phone: (519) 753-6037, FAX: (519) 753-6408, Toll Free: 1-800-387-4674

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