Carol Mitchell, PhD, RDMS, RDCS, RVT, RT(R), FASE, FSDMS

The emergence of graduate programs for diagnostic imaging professionals is relatively new. Many diagnostic imaging professionals have pursued graduate degrees (masters or doctorate) in subjects such as business, education, or physics, but the concept of an actual graduate degree in diagnostic imaging, in which students take advanced imaging courses and work with faculty who perform independent research and who are registered imaging professionals, is still relatively new.

Emergence of graduate education programs in any profession signifies the advancement of a set body of knowledge specific to the discipline . For diagnostic imaging professionals, one example of a specific body of knowledge is the development of a better understanding of how the professional creates images, and how image creation facilitates accurate interpretation by the physician. A body of knowledge does exist in how imaging professionals use and apply the technology as it is developed, and how the technology can be modified to use existing or new applications to answer new questions. Understanding how to design clinical trials to incorporate new techniques into clinical practice is a specialty area that warrants dedicated course work for diagnostic imaging professionals. Through the creation of graduate programs that offer courses in diagnostic imaging, based on graduate programs of other allied health disciplines, imaging professionals will be better prepared to perform research and advance the knowledge of the diagnostic imaging discipline.

With this information in mind, what should a graduate program in diagnostic imaging look like? Course offerings could include content mastery in statistics, pharmacology, comparative imaging (MRI, CT, sonography, etc), advanced pathophysiology (to better understand disease states for which one might use an imaging technique to diagnose or follow treatment) and advanced imaging concepts, including the use of 3D and strain imaging. Through the development of graduate educational programs in diagnostic imaging, students will be prepared to contribute new knowledge to the profession.

For diagnostic imaging professionals, there are several important questions to ask when preparing to apply to a graduate program. These include the following:

What will be my area of study?

Many students may wish to continue to work full-time while pursuing graduate degrees. As a consequence, they may tend to look only at graduate programs in the local geographical area and select a field of study that will lead to a graduate degree, but not necessarily in the field they want to study. A better way to think about this is “what do I want to study?” If you want to continue to work in the clinic in a senior or advanced role, then you might benefit from a graduate program that will offer course work in advanced imaging topics, such as contrast imaging, molecular imaging, comparative imaging, and advanced pathophysiology to gain knowledge about different types of pathology or pathophysiology . Building on this foundation, an imaging professional can then utilize his or her prior knowledge and clinical experience to develop new imaging techniques or protocols to best demonstrate pathology or follow treatment.

Are courses offered online?

This may be very important to students who want to continue to work while taking advanced courses. While online learning can cater to learning styles, and offers flexibility for working students, a large part of graduate school (in my opinion) is the discussion of scholarly readings and gaining confidence in dissecting these readings to obtain a deeper understanding of the research design and methods employed. This is often facilitated by group discussions. When considering an online program, ask the institution how a typical online course is formatted. How many students are in the course? Is there discussion? Is the discussion carried out through video chatting or online discussion forums? Asking these questions will help you decide if this content delivery method is a good fit.

What do I want to do with this degree?

This is a question often overlooked by students. Once making the decision to pursue a graduate degree, consider why this degree is desired and what the ideal job would be once the degree is completed. This will help you choose a program that has the correct course content for what you want to do after graduation.

What do I want to do for my research?

A large part of any graduate program is completion of a thesis or dissertation. Students should have an idea of what it is they want to research at the time of application to an advanced degree program. While there is no harm in taking courses to finalize one’s research ideas, if you have no idea what you want to research, it becomes difficult to know what courses to take to facilitate your research and eventual writing of a dissertation and thesis. Knowing what you want to study at the time of entering a graduate program will facilitate putting together a committee of faculty experts who can provide feedback regarding research design, methodology, reporting of results, and assist with selecting courses to best prepare you to become an independent researcher or to go on as a faculty member in higher education. Another question to consider is whether or not to complete an interdisciplinary graduate program. The reason to ask this question is again, what is the career goal after graduation? Pairing imaging studies with another discipline may offer additional options.

In summary, more graduate programs are needed with emphasis or specialty track offerings in diagnostic imaging to advance and contribute new knowledge to the field by imaging professionals. Education that supports the application of technique to produce information to answer the clinical question is a specialty area that will allow diagnostic imaging professionals at the graduate level to excel and become independent researchers.