For most Advanced Radiologic Sciences bachelor’s emphases, you are required to complete 24 hours of clinical education per week in a WSU-affiliated healthcare facility.
Advanced Radiologic Sciences
If you are pursuing a bachelor’s degree in our Radiologic Sciences program, you must select an emphasis or combination of emphases. Our emphases are designed to meet your career goals in radiologic sciences modalities and for technical, management and educational positions.
Clinical Education
Certification
Upon completion of your emphasis, you are eligible to take the national certification examination given by the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists (ARRT). States often require practicing technologists to be licensed, and ARRT certifications may be used to fulfill state regulations in many states. If you want to practice in Utah, you must be licensed as a radiologic technologist by the state.
Emphases
- Advanced Radiologic Sciences
Our Advanced Radiologic Sciences program fills the educational needs for imaging professionals and provides a career ladder for those who wish to obtain additional skills in advanced areas.
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Robert J. Walker
What You Will Learn
You can expect to learn and gain advanced skills in clinical medicine, imaging pathophysiology, and research.
Job Opportunities
As an advanced radiologic technologist, you can work as a mid-level supervisor and apply for graduate school and pre-PA courses of study.
Locations and/or Delivery
WSU-Ogden, Regional
WSU-Ogden and Regional programs are completed in 3 straight semesters, beginning each fall semester.
Independent Study
Independent Study allows you to earn a certificate of completion in a specialized area if you’re unable to attend a campus or regional programs.
Concentrations
Quality Management
Technologists working in quality management are responsible for the quality and processes of systems within radiology departments, performing quality control tests, assessing film density, monitoring accuracy and identifying and solving issues associated with producing medical images.
What You Will Learn
Advanced skills in equipment quality control, general quality control procedures (analog or digital) and quality improvement activities.
Job Opportunities
You can work as risk and quality management technologist.
Locations and/or Delivery
WSU-Ogden, Regional
WSU-Ogden and Regional programs are completed in 4 straight semesters, beginning each fall semester.
Independent Study
This program allows you to earn a certificate of completion in a specialized area if you’re unable to attend a campus or regional programs.
Picture Archiving and Communications System (PACS)
The healthcare professional who orchestrates a complex set of functions to achieve successful imaging informatics is often called a Picture Archiving and Communications System (PACS) administrator. In this profession, you have a foot in two worlds: clinical healthcare and corporate information technology. You must communicate clearly with highly technical network personnel, while understanding the diagnostic process of the radiologist.
What You Will Learn
Image management, information technology, operations, communications, systems management, clinical engineering, medical informatics, procurement, project management and training and education.
Job Opportunities
Your value as a PACS administrator is clear: When clinicians have immediate electronic access to medical images, precious time is saved, allowing for timely medical decisions, reducing unnecessary repetition of exams and driving costs down.
Your role may also expand to system architect, workflow engineer and business analyst.
In the United States, the electronic management of health information, including images and their corresponding medical documentation, is becoming a government mandate. Starting in 2015, hospitals and doctors will be subject to financial penalties under Medicare if they’re not using electronic health records.
Locations and/or Delivery
WSU-Ogden, Regional
WSU-Ogden and Regional programs are completed in 4 straight semesters, beginning each fall semester.
Independent Study
This program allows you to earn a certificate of completion in a specialized area if you’re unable to attend a campus or regional programs.
- Interventional Technology (IT)
Technologists working in interventional technology assist interventional radiologists with diagnostic angiographic procedures, complex vascular interventional procedures and therapeutic procedures. As an interventional technologist, you must have technical, radiologic and clinical skills.
Faculty Advisors: Dr. Robert J. Walker and Laurie Coburn
What You Will Learn
Equipment and instrumentation, patient care and interventional procedures (neurological, thoracic, abdominal, genitourinary and gastrointestinal [non-vascular] and peripheral).
Job Opportunities
Cardiovascular-interventional (VI) radiographers utilize sophisticated imaging practices, which allow vascular procedures to be performed without invasive surgery. You may work in hospitals, clinics, labs, and outpatient centers.
Locations and/or Delivery
WSU-Ogden, Regional
WSU-Ogden and Regional programs are completed in 3 straight semesters, beginning each fall semester.
- Computed Tomography (CT)
Computed Tomography (CT) technologists use a rotating x-ray unit to obtain slices of anatomy at different levels within the body. A computer stacks and assembles the individual slices, creating a diagnostic image.
Faculty Advisor: Taylor Ward
What You Will Learn
Interactions of electromagnetic waves, instrumentation, imaging sequences and computer parameters of computerized tomography imaging; computed tomography of the torso and limbs and computed tomography physics and instrumentation.
Job Opportunities
As a CT technologist, you may work in a hospital or clinical setting or as a researcher, using experimental protocols and equipment to perform complex exams in a research facility or university. You may also become a radiology manager, leading a radiology department; a sales associate, selling CT equipment to hospitals and clinics; or an application specialist, teaching others to operate CT machines after they’re purchased from a manufacturer.
Locations and/or Delivery
WSU-Ogden, Regional
WSU-Ogden and Regional programs are completed in 3 straight semesters, beginning each fall semester.
- Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technologists are specially trained to operate MR equipment. During an MRI scan, atoms in the patient’s body are exposed to a strong magnetic field. The technologist applies a radiofrequency pulse to the field, which knocks the atoms out of alignment. When the technologist turns the pulse off, the atoms return to their original position. In the process, they give off signals that are measured by a computer and processed to create detailed images of the patient’s anatomy (ASRT, 2015).
Faculty Advisors: Rex Christensen and Shane Clampitt
What You Will Learn
Physical principles and theories of magnetic resonance, instrumentation, imaging sequences and methods in normal and abnormal tissue, and computer parameters of magnetic resonance, along with advanced MRI procedures and safety and MRI of the central nervous system, torso and limbs.
Job Opportunities
As an MRI technologist, you may work in a hospital or clinic or as a researcher, performing complex exams using experimental protocols and equipment at a research facility or university. You may also become a radiology manager, leading a radiology department; a sales associate, selling MRI equipment to hospitals and clinics; or an application specialist, teaching clients to operate MRI machines after they’re purchased from a manufacturer.
Locations and/or Delivery
WSU-Ogden, Regional
WSU-Ogden and Regional programs are completed in 3 straight semesters, beginning each fall semester.
- MRI/CT Combined
Computed tomography (CT) technologists use a rotating x-ray unit to obtain slices of anatomy at different levels within the body. A computer then stacks and assembles the individual slices, creating a diagnostic image. With CT technology, physicians can view the inside of organs, a feat not possible with general radiography (ASRT, 2015).
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technologists are specially trained to operate MR equipment. During an MRI scan, atoms in the patient’s body are exposed to a strong magnetic field. The technologist applies a radiofrequency pulse to the field, which knocks the atoms out of alignment. When the technologist turns the pulse off, the atoms return to their original position. In the process, they give off signals that are measured by a computer and processed to create detailed images of the patient’s anatomy (ASRT, 2015).
Faculty Advisor: Rex Christensen
What You Will Learn
This emphasis teaches you advanced magnetic resonance imaging procedures, along with principles and theories of magnetic resonance, instrumentation and more. In the area of computed tomography, courses cover interactions of electromagnetic waves, instrumentation, computed tomography physics and more.
Job Opportunities
As a CT or MRI technologist, you may work in a hospital or clinic or as a researcher, performing complex exams using experimental protocols and equipment at a research facility or university. You may also become a radiology manager, leading a radiology department; a sales associate, selling CT or MRI equipment to hospitals and clinics; or an application specialist, teaching clients to operate CT or MRI machines after they’re purchased from a manufacturer.
Locations and/or Delivery
WSU-Ogden, Regional
WSU-Ogden and Regional programs are completed in 4 straight semesters, beginning each fall semester.
- Women’s Imaging
The BS degree in Women's Imaging encompasses Mammography. Mammography aids in the early diagnosis of breast cancer. Screening and diagnostic mammography exams are performed by registered mammography technologists.
Faculty Advisor: Jennifer Santiago (Adjunct Faculty - Mammography)
What You Will Learn
Mammography
Anatomy and physiology, positioning and quality assurance.
Job Opportunities
Mammography has been a continually growing profession. As women learn more about their bodies and prevention, the numbers of women obtaining mammograms also increases.
Locations and/or Delivery
WSU-Ogden and Regional
WSU-Ogden and Regional programs are completed in 3 straight semesters, beginning each fall semester.
Additional Certifications
Upon successful completion of the Mammography program, you also fulfill the federal requirements for the Mammography Quality Standards Act (MQSA).
This certification is accepted by many states and may be used to fulfill state licensing regulations. If you want to practice in Utah, you must be licensed as a radiologic technologist by the state.