N.C. is one of the few states that does not require licensure for medical imaging. I would like to share some verbiage about a bill that we need to pass in N.C. to help protect patients in our community.

North Carolinians deserve the highest level of patient care and safety when undergoing diagnostic medical imaging or radiation therapy treatment.

A trip to the emergency room to confirm your child’s suspected broken arm from a playground incident, imaging following a serious motorcycle or car accident, prescribed rounds of treatment from your cancer doctor, or a sonogram to evaluate your severe abdominal pain is not the time one should be learning the person performing your procedure is not trained, educationally prepared and clinically competent.

North Carolinians are familiar with selecting their physician and the facility they plan to choose when considering their health care choices but how many of us stop to think about whether the person performing the medical imaging or radiation therapy treatment is qualified? Hopefully, the medical facility has made sure they are qualified, right? Yet, North Carolina is one of only five states that currently has no standards or licensing structure for medical imaging or radiation therapy at all. This reality leaves us expecting high quality care but with no real mechanism in place to see to it that we receive it. As a result, we are susceptible to poor image quality which leads to a misdiagnosis or delay in diagnosis, increased errors and unnecessary additional radiation exposure when procedures need to be repeated.

North Carolinians should have the right to expect highly trained, educationally prepared and clinically competent health care professionals when seeking medical attention. North Carolina House Bill H590 and Senate Bill S415 are long overdue and will help deliver high quality patient care and safety to anyone undergoing medical imaging or radiation therapy treatment.

— Kelly McCowan

Salisbury

McCowan is the radiography program director at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College.