September 2024

Issue 38 - September 2024

From the Chair
Board news
Students and graduates
- Graduates finishing study can apply for registration now
- Student webinar series
Registration news
- Latest workforce data released
What’s new?
Stay in touch with the Board

From the Chair

Welcome to our spring newsletter. I recently attended the ASMIRT Masterclass ‘A recipe for success’ held in the Adelaide Hills in August, which was a day full of learning and great discussion focusing on advances in education, training and the future of technology within our profession.

In this newsletter we look at informed consent within medical radiation practice and the importance of being on the lookout for non-verbal cues indicating that a patient may want to withdraw their consent. And for those of you who can spare a couple of minutes, you can assist with research on medical radiation practitioners’ attitudes towards the use of medicines in practice.

For those students who are nearing the end of their final year of study, now is the time to start applying for registration. More information on how to get started is outlined below. Also, a big thank you to all the students that attended our student webinar series across August and September.

Cara Miller
Chair, Medical Radiation Practice Board of Australia

Board news

Informed consent in medical radiation practice

Obtaining consent within a healthcare setting is a legal, ethical and professional requirement for all medical radiation practitioners. Informed consent is a person’s voluntary decision to agree to a healthcare treatment, procedure or intervention and is an essential component of the Australian Charter of Healthcare Rights and our professional Code of conduct.

As specified in the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare Informed Consent fact sheet for clinicians, for there to be valid informed consent, the person consenting must:

Have the legal capacity to consent
Give their consent voluntarily
Give their consent to the specific treatment, procedure or intervention being discussed
Have enough information about their condition, treatment options, the benefits and risks relevant to them, and alternative options for them to make an informed decision to consent. This includes the opportunity to ask questions and discuss concerns.

Withdrawing consent

A patient can withdraw their consent at any time, even during an examination or treatment. You must immediately stop the procedure as soon as it is safe to do so for the patient and others involved.

When a patient has given verbal consent, you should stay vigilant and attentive to any changes in the patient’s language or non-verbal cues that may suggest they no longer wish to proceed or are reconsidering their consent.

It is important to actively engage with the patient, to discuss any concerns or fears, and to reassess the patient’s consent. It is good practice to clarify the patient’s wishes and reconfirm their consent before continuing with the examination or treatment. In such situations, to avoid misunderstandings, you should consider whether obtaining written consent might be more appropriate.

Regardless of whether the informed consent given by the patient was written, verbal or a combination of the two, it is important that all consent discussions (and signed forms if using), including whether consent was reconsidered during the treatment, are appropriately recorded in the patient’s healthcare records.

For more information, please refer to the Informed Consent fact sheet for clinicians.

CPD triennium finishes 30 November 2024

The current CPD triennium ends on 30 November 2024 and the new CPD triennium starts on 1 December 2024 and goes through to 30 November 2027.

The Board’s CPD registration standard requires registered medical radiation practitioners to complete a minimum of 10 hours of CPD in a registration period (1 December to 30 November each year), and a total of 60 hours of CPD over a three-year triennium.

When you renew your registration in November each year you are asked to make a declaration that you have met the requirements of the CPD registration standard. Importantly, the Board regularly audits practitioner declarations and compliance with the CPD standard.

For those of you who have put CPD on the back burner for a while, now might be a really good time to assess where your CPD hours for the triennium are up to.

For more information about what a substantive CPD activity is, evidence and reflection, read through the Board’s CPD guidelines.

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Research into the quality use of medicines by medical radiation practitioners

Research in medical radiation practice helps to build and enhance the profession’s base of knowledge and expertise. The Board is supportive of research projects that are relevant to medical radiation practice and the Board’s role in regulating the profession and workforce arrangements.

We have agreed to provide information about a research project that is investigating Australian medical radiation practitioners’ attitudes towards use of medicines in practice.

The aim of the research is to explore practitioners’ current use of medicines in practice, what their opinions are of this practice and what they believe is the impact on safety. Whether or not you currently use medicines in your practice, we would like to hear from you.

Participation is voluntary and information is collected an anonymous survey link. A participant information form is included at the start of the online survey. There is an opportunity to ‘opt-in’ to take part in a further interview. You can complete the survey and decline further involvement. Click here to access the 10-15 minute survey.

Any questions can be directed to the principal investigator, Gordon Mander: g.mander@hdr.qut.edu.au. The primary supervisor, Professor Debbie Starkey, can be contacted at d.starkey@qut.edu.au.

Ethical approval was provided by Queensland University of Technology (QUT) [HREC7168].

The role of clinical educators in safe, high quality clinical education

Clinical placements are common in health professional education and are widely recognised as a significant influencer in the development of future health professionals’ capability. Clinical educators and supervisors play a similarly influential role in teaching and moulding student professional capabilities and attitudes.

Most often, learning in the clinical environment relies on the participation of patients to provide students with the opportunities to develop skills, knowledge and experience. While the focus for students may be on the learning opportunities, clinical educators must recognise that the patient is most interested in the safe, competent and ethical provision of services for their care.

Priorities and responsibilities

The priority for registered medical radiation practitioners is to ensure that the delivery of healthcare services is patient centred and safe. Clinical educators and supervisors must look for opportunities for students to learn while keeping patients safe and must closely monitor when students are performing tasks.

They must balance student workloads so that there are sufficient opportunities and time to learn, and they must be present and available to intervene when necessary to manage risks and prevent harm to patients.

Organisations and employers have similar obligations and must ensure that business models do not place supervisors or students in circumstances that are inconsistent with good, safe, ethical practice.

The clinical educator has primary responsibility for the student and remains accountable for the care provided. The failure to provide safe and effective supervision of students is considered a serious breach of professional obligations.

The Code of conduct for medical radiation practitioners provides good guidance and outlines the professional obligations of clinical educators and supervisors of students. There are also fact sheets for clinical supervisors and education providers published on the Professional capabilities for medical radiation practice webpage.

Students and graduates

Graduates finishing study can apply for registration now

If you’re studying to become a medical radiation practitioner and will be finishing your course in the next three months, you can apply for registration now.

Getting your application in early helps avoid any delays and helps get you into the workforce sooner. If you apply before you finish your study, we can start assessing your application while we wait for your graduate results.

Before you can start working as medical radiation practitioner you have to be registered with the Medical Radiation Practice Board of Australia (the Board).

Easy steps to apply online:

Create your account using the online services portal and complete your application
Upload your documents and pay the required fees. Check that you have provided all required documents to prove you’ve met the registration standards, including certified copies of your photo ID.
Wait for your education provider to provide your graduate results to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra).

Watch our video to help get your application right: Applying for graduate registration.

You’ll also find helpful advice, tips for avoiding common causes of delay and downloadable information flyers on the Graduate registration page of the Ahpra website.

Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander graduates – need help to apply?

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Engagement and Support team (the support team) is there to help you through the registration process.

It is staffed by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and provides a one-on-one service ranging from helpful tips for navigating the registration process to regular phone contact, and advice on disclosures made on registration applications (for example, about impairments) that may require consideration by the Board.

The support team is committed to helping you get registered promptly so you can start making vital contributions to safe healthcare and to your communities. If, after reading the handy hints below, you would still like help with your application for registration, please email the support team at mobengagementsupport@ahpra.gov.au.

Student webinar series

Across August and September, the Board hosted two webinars as part of its 2024 Student Webinar series.

The first webinar was aimed at early years students and introduced the concepts of professional regulation and their obligations as a student, the role of the Medical Radiation Practice Board of Australia and Ahpra, cultural safety within a clinical setting, and registration standards and the Code of conduct.

Our second webinar was for graduating students and covered topics including the process of applying for registration as a medical radiation practitioner, professional obligations and what it means to be a registered practitioner, and what happens if a complaint is made about you.

We invited all students currently enrolled within a medical radiation practice degree in Australia, and across the two webinars we had more than 400 students attend

Due to the success of these webinars and positive feedback we received, we have decided to run student webinars as an annual series. Future dates and student webinar content will be posted on the Events page of the Board’s website.

Registration news

Latest workforce data released

The Board’s quarterly registration data to 30 June 2024 has been published. At this date, there were 19,851 registered medical radiation practitioners, of whom 19,352 have general registration. This figure includes 15,653 diagnostic radiographers, 2,870 radiation therapists and 1,312 nuclear medicine technologists.

There are 130 practitioners who identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander (0.7%).

For more data, including registration by principal place of practice and age, visit our Statistics page to read the report.

What’s new?

Greater protection for the public under National Law changes

The recent series of amendments to the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law are now complete, with a final suite of changes being introduced from 1 July.

A key update for practitioners is that you can now nominate an alternative name to go on the register, alongside your legal name.

Some health practitioners may practise under an alternative name, such as a traditional name or an anglicised or shortened name.

Having both your legal name and your alternative name appear on the public register will make it easier for the public to search the register and make informed decisions about their care.

You can find out more information about alternative names and how to nominate on the Ahpra website.

Other changes to the National Law from 1 July include:

allowing National Boards and Ahpra to issue interim prohibition orders to unregistered persons in certain circumstances where the person poses a serious risk to others
establishing the process regarding renewal of a practitioner’s registration after a period of suspension
empowering the National Boards to include previously excluded information in the National Register if there is a reasonable belief the circumstances have changed
enabling the Ministerial Council to delegate its power to approve registration standards to an appropriate entity.

Australia’s health system, as well as the reasons and ways people access it, has changed dramatically over the past 15 years.

These reforms allow the regulation scheme to evolve with it, strengthening Ahpra and National Boards’ ability to protect the public and support practitioners.

More information about the changes, as well as future areas of focus and ways to provide feedback can be found on Ahpra's website.

Improving experiences when navigating a healthcare complaint

The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (the commission), and Ahpra with the National Boards, have worked on a joint project to explore opportunities to improve the consumer experience of making a health complaint in Australia.

Both organisations wanted to get a better understanding of the barriers that consumers face when making a healthcare complaint and to discover what they can do to support consumers.

The final report has now been published along with supporting resources for practitioners and the public about navigating healthcare complaints.

The project found that the complexity of the complaints system is putting a huge weight of responsibility on consumers to understand how it works. Consumers are also experiencing barriers. whether social, economic or cultural, that are affecting their ability to make a complaint and want a system that is focused on their needs rather than administrative processes.

What we’ve done

To improve experiences for those going through a complaint process, the commission and Ahpra have:

updated our websites to clarify the process of making a complaint
developed three animations to give clear information to the public about how and where to make a health complaint
developed a ‘Tips for consumers when making a complaint’ webpage and fact sheet
developed Healthcare complaints - where to make a complaint (downloadable fact sheet), and
created a complaints checklist for practitioners to help effectively handle feedback and complaints from their patients or clients.

We will continue to make improvements to our websites and consumer resources. In some states and territories, we are exploring ways to develop a targeted local resource about complaints options.

Review to ease the complexity of health regulation

You may have heard there is a review underway to examine the complexity of the National Scheme.

The Review of complexity in the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme (the Dawson Review) began in May 2024, and is led by the former NSW Health Care Complaints Commissioner Sue Dawson.

The independent review aims to identify areas of the National Scheme that are unnecessarily complex and recommend changes that will improve regulatory outcomes for health practitioners and the community.

Six terms of reference outline the scope of the review. These will consider:

how to streamline and harmonise decision-making to improve consistency in regulation
how to make complaints management more consumer-driven, consistent, accessible and efficient
how to make tribunal decision-making more consistent
stewardship of the National Scheme
how to manage new professions entering the National Scheme, and
the powers ministers have to direct entities exercising accreditation functions.

The National Scheme has been reviewed many times. Why conduct another review?

While the National Scheme overwhelmingly fulfils its paramount objective of public protection, there are opportunities to simplify complaints processes and improve fairness, consistency and the experiences of consumers and practitioners.

This review will help the National Scheme meet the expectations of notifiers, practitioners and the community.

Have your say

Ms Dawson will consult with governments, regulators, health professions, peak bodies and consumers at a later stage of the review.

Stay up to date with the review webpage for information on stakeholder consultation and how to participate when it becomes available.

The review is expected to be completed by April 2025.

Stay in touch with the Board

Visit the Medical Radiation Practice Board website for news about the profession, information on the National Scheme and for registration standards, codes, guidelines, policies and fact sheets.
Lodge an online enquiry form.
For registration enquiries call 1300 419 495 (from within Australia) or +61 3 9125 3010 (for overseas callers).
Address mail correspondence to Cara Miller, Chair, Medical Radiation Practice Board of Australia, GPO Box 9958, Melbourne VIC 3000.