Medical Radiation Practice Board of Australia - December 2014
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December 2014

Issue 7

Chair's message

Welcome to the final newsletter for 2014 from the Medical Radiation Practice Board of Australia (the Board). This edition of the newsletter will update you about important topics such as supervised practice, the Board’s annual report and health profession agreement.

The last few months the Board has been busy running supervised practice information sessions and a webinar, aimed at supervisors to update them about the new supervised practice arrangements. The Supervised practice program guide and a new webpage have been published outlining the program requirements.

As you may have noticed during your registration renewal, the Board has again reduced the registration fees for general and provisional registrants, while continuing to undertake significant initiatives to ensure a robust regulatory environment for medical radiation practitioners.

We have started preparing for a busy 2015. The Board’s major focus for next year will looking at the outcomes of the workforce innovation survey and research currently being conducted on the occurrence of risk in practice.

I hope that you have a safe and happy festive season.

Best wishes,

Neil Hicks
Chair, Medical Radiation Practice Board of Australia

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Graduate applications

AHPRA is calling for online applications from students who are in their final year of an approved program of study. Students due to complete study at the end of 2014 are urged to apply for registration before completing their course.

An email reminder to apply early and online will be sent by AHPRA on behalf of the Board to final-year students on the Student Register. Applications can also be made by completing a paper application form.

Medical radiation students are encouraged to read the information on AHPRA’s website under Graduate applications. Graduates must meet the Board’s registration standards and be registered as a medical radiation practitioner before they start practising.

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Board sets fees for 2014/15

The national registration fee for medical radiation practitioners for 2014/15 has been reduced by $45 to $250.

The annual renewal fee applies from 9 September 2014 and covers the registration period for most practitioners of 1 December 2014 to 30 November 2015.

The Board was able to lower the fee as it continues to better understand the cost associated with regulation now that it has been a part of the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme (the National Scheme) for two years.

A fees schedule, including the fee arrangements for practitioners whose principal place of practice is NSW, is published on the National Board’s website.

For more information, please read the media release on the Board’s website.

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2013/14 National Scheme annual report

AHPRA and the National Boards have released their 2013/14 annual report on the National Scheme, providing a comprehensive record of the operations of the National Scheme for the 12 months ending 30 June 2014.

This year, for the first time, AHPRA and the National Boards have also published summaries of our work regulating health practitioners in every state and territory. Profession-specific profiles have also been published.

The annual report provides a national snapshot of the work and finances of the National Scheme and is tabled in the parliaments of each state and territory and the Commonwealth. The 2014 annual report is an important reporting milestone and covers the lead-up to the scheduled independent three-year review of the National Scheme, now underway.

MRP in numbers

Image with information about medical radiation practice, including: 14,387 medical radiation practitioners, which is a 3.47% increase from 2012/13. 1,700 applications received. Medical radiation makes up 2.3% of all health professionals. 32.6% of medical radiation practitioners are male. 67.4% are female. There were 28 notifications received compared to 26 in 2012/13. There were 1,990 criminal history checks. 3,890 registered students.

For more information, please read the media release on the AHPRA website.

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New arrangements for supervised practice

The Board has released the MRP Supervised practice program guide outlining the program requirements for 2015 supervised practice. Graduates will participate in a new 48 week (full-time equivalent) supervised practice program that is administered by AHPRA on behalf of the Board. This is the only supervised practice program approved by the Board for 2015.

The Board has also updated its supervised practice webpage that includes the program guide and FAQs to describe the new arrangements for the MRP supervised practice program (SPP).

The program guide details the Board’s requirements, including supervision plans based on the Board’s Professional Capabilities for medical radiation practice statement. It provides examples of the supervision implementation plans that detail how and when the practitioner will receive exposure to, and experience across, each area of the capabilities, including the instrumentation (modalities), clinical settings and patient/client presentations the practitioner will undertake during each quarter of the program and supervision arrangements.

Supervisors and practitioners should note the process for commencing in the program is different to what has occurred in the past. Graduates apply to participate in the SPP and when they have been accepted into the program each principal supervisor must complete a declaration and include copies of the supervision implementation plans for each supervised practitioner. Individual departments are not registered or approved as part of the new process.

The new process for commencing in supervised practice is described on the supervised practice webpage. Supervisors and supervised practitioners are encouraged to read the guide and FAQs and send any questions to mrpsupervisedpractice@ahpra.gov.au.

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Supervisor training

The Board recognises that some supervisors may not feel adequately skilled or trained to be responsible for providing an appropriate environment for a practitioner to practise safely. Because of this, the Board will provide training and resources to support supervisors prior to and during their supervision activities.

While supervisors are not required to undertake training to act as a supervisor, the Board believes supervisors will benefit from doing supervision and assessment training. Therefore, the Board will provide training sessions led by experienced medical radiation practitioners using the ‘Teaching on the Run’ program, modified to include some MRP specific examples. The facilitators have been trained to provide six modules of supervisor training to principal supervisors and other supervisors. The six modules of training are detailed below.

  • For principal supervisors: Clinical Supervision, Planning Learning, Assessment and Supporting Learners workshops, which together make up 5½ hours of training.
  • For other supervisors: Clinical Teaching and Skills Teaching workshops, which together take approximately 4 hours.

At least one session for principal supervisors and one session for other supervisors will be offered in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne in January or February, with other sessions offered during 2015. The Board is providing this training free of charge, participants are only required to pay for travel and incidental costs.

To express interest in attending a training session email mrpsupervisedpractice@ahpra.gov.au indicating your preferred session, location and timing.

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Health profession agreement

The Board and AHPRA have published the health profession agreement (HPA) that outlines the partnership between the Board and AHPRA, and the services AHPRA will provide to the Board in 2014/2015. The HPA also provides information about the Board’s financial operations and fees.

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National Scheme news

Strengthening international criminal history checks

From early 2015, National Boards and AHPRA will implement a new procedure for checking the criminal history of international applicants for registration. The new approach aims to balance protecting the public without unnecessarily delaying the registration process for applicants.

For more information, please read the media release on the AHPRA website.

Regulatory principles endorsed for National Scheme

The National Boards and AHPRA have launched refreshed regulatory principles that will underpin the work of the Boards and AHPRA in regulating Australia’s health practitioners in the public interest.

Regulatory decision-making is complex and contextual, requiring judgement, experience and common sense. The principles will further support consistent, balanced decision-making across all professions within the National Scheme.

AHPRA and the National Boards will be seeking feedback on the principles in a formal consultation and will review them based on this feedback and 12 months’ experience. You can read the regulatory principles in a media release on the AHPRA website.

New homepages for AHPRA and National Boards’ websites

We have changed the homepages of the AHPRA and National Boards’ websites, to make them easier to use and make it easier for users to find what they need.

The new designs are based on analytics data on how people use the sites as well as feedback from staff (including our customer service teams who receive calls from our stakeholders on where to find information on the sites) as well as members from our community reference group.

With the new homepages, users can:

  • search the register with one click straight from the homepage 
  • go to the ‘employer’ or ‘practitioner’ tabs, which include links specific to these groups; and 
  • browse more news items without clicking through to a specific story

While the new homepages make an immediate improvement to the usability of the sites, there is still more work to follow. Work on the rest of the sites will begin in 2015, and will include extensive consultation with a range of user groups including practitioners, employers and members of the community.

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Update your contact details

Please check your contact details and update them if necessary in order to receive regular information from the Board and AHPRA.

Email accounts should be set to receive communications from AHPRA and the Board to avoid misdirection to a ‘junk email’ or ‘spam’ box or account.

If you have not yet provided your email address to AHPRA or the Board, please do so as a matter of urgency.

To update your contact details, go to the AHPRA website, click Online Services, use your unique contact number (User ID) and follow the prompts. Your User ID is not your registration number. If you do not have a User ID complete an online enquiry form, selecting ‘User ID’ as the category of enquiry, or call 1300 419 495.

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Keep in touch with the Board

  • Visit the Medical Radiation Practice Board website for the mandatory registration standards, codes, guidelines and FAQ. Visiting the website regularly is the best way to stay in touch with news and updates from the Board.
  • Lodge an online enquiry form.
  • For registration enquiries, call 1300 419 495 (from within Australia) or +61 3 8708 9001 (for overseas callers).
  • To update your contact details for important registration renewal emails and other Board updates, go to the AHPRA website.
  • Address mail correspondence to: Neil Hicks, Chair, Medical Radiation Practice Board of Australia, GPO Box 9958, Melbourne, VIC 3001.

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Page reviewed 27/04/2023
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