Society of Nuclear Medicine Technologist Section National Council Delegate Report

By Lyn Mehlberg, BS, CNMT, FSNMTS

Recently, the SNM held it’s annual Midwinter Meeting-- this year meeting in San Antonio, Texas. As with each of the two SNM meetings per year, the leadership of the SNMTS and SNM meet prior to the kick off of the educational sessions to accomplish the business of the society. I wish to share with you an update of the discussions, decisions, and progress the leadership is making to drive the profession.

SNMTS committee day was held on Thursday, beginning at 7:00 AM with the Scope of Practice Task Force meeting and ended with the Executive Board adjourning at 10:30 pm. In between, numerous committees and task forces met to move the agenda of the SNMTS forward.

A hot topic at many of these meetings was the Joint Commission Patient Safety Goals, particularly, the standards and goals pertaining to medication reconciliation and medication management, and specifically how these goals will impact the practice of nuclear medicine technology. Discussion pursued to how to position the SNMTS and its members in meeting these medication standards.

Much discussion surrounded the development of a crisper and more concise scope of practice document and formulating practice standards to guide our membership and regulators throughout the maze of questions surrounding current practice issues while better defining the profession. Other committee meetings discussed chapter’s ability to hold more successful meetings and meet the attendance verification requirements.

The educators discussed how to make Advanced Practice a reality, and how to move forward with the articulation plans in supporting the bacheloreate degree movement for nuclear medicine technology. As Dave Perry recently wrote in Uptake, “It is amazing to see such a diverse group of people from across the country join together twice a year and get such a considerable amount of work done in such short period of time.”

Friday morning began with an orientation for new members to the National Council of Representatives (NCOR), and then the NCOR meeting. Made up of representatives from each of the Chapters, as well as specialty groups including industry, management, students, emerging technologies, cardiology, and education, the NCOR is the representative body of the organization. Every one of these representatives has two primary duties of their office; to bring issues and information from their respective groups to the NCOR, and to bring information from the national level back to those they represent. As your National Council Delegate, it is my responsibility to act as the conduit for information to flow to the national organization and then to take the information from the national to the chapter. The first portion of the NCOR meeting provided members an opportunity to hear what is happening with the SNMTS. This included reports from the SNM staff, SNMTS officers, as well as from some related organizations such as the NMTCB and the ARRT.

During the NCOR meeting, the vision of the SNM in promoting the expanding role of molecular imaging in 21st century patient care could be witnessed in the various initiatives discussed by the SNM and SNMTS leadership. Expanding beyond the well established roles of nuclear medicine and, more recently, positron emission tomography, the SNM truly believes that our organization is in a unique position to provide education and professional support to those working in molecular imaging and therapy. Members of the NCOR were treated to a comprehensive review of the SNM’s molecular imaging “Bench to Bedside” campaign and its plans for the next several months.

The NCOR then spent some time discussing some of the issues brought forward by the delegates. One such issue involved the efforts to improve the attendance verification process at continuing education meetings. Another involved a rather lengthy discussion about how to improve meetings such as the one we were participating. All in all, it was a good and productive meeting.

As your National Council Delegate, my role is to represent you and your interests within the NCOR. If you have an issue or question regarding the SNM or your practice as a NMT, please feel free to contact me at lyn.mehlberg@aurora.org or 414 649 6919. Thank you for the opportunity to continue serving the SNMTS.