Background: Developing the critical thinking skills of student radiographers is imperative in an era of rapidly advancing technology. The status of the students' ability to demonstrate critical thinking skills needed to be explored for the Department of Radiography at a comprehensive university to determine if a more explicit curriculum was needed to facilitate these skills.Aim: The aim of this article is to present results of a study conducted to determine the critical thinking ability of 3rd year radiography students at a Comprehensive University in South Africa.Method: The research study used a descriptive exploratory design to collect both quantitative and qualitative data. Quantitative data was collected by scoring the participants ability to think critically when answering clinical scenarios posed in the form of vignettes given to the students under assessment conditions. The qualitative data was generated by in-depth field notes made inductively by the researcher. Results:The findings of this study indicated that the majority of participants demonstrated a minimal ability to think critically. Conclusion:The study results imply that in order to improve critical thinking skills of student radiographers, there is a need for curriculum adjustment, to nurture and encourage these skills. It is recommended that facilitators adopt methods to integrate these skills in the curriculum.
Introduction Digital radiography lacks visual clues of exposure techniques used to obtain radiographs, therefore manufacturers have included exposure indicators (EIs). EIs provides feedback about exposure techniques used and evaluating EIs will yield much needed information about exposure trends used in digital radiography. Methods A retrospective explorative quantitative study was conducted at nine randomly selected imaging departments in Gauteng, South Africa. Data pertaining to EI was retrospectively collected using quota sampling and compared to manufacturer recommended (MR) standards. Results A total of 1422 EIs were collected. 50% of these were within the MR standard. 27% of EI indicated overexposure and 23% indicated underexposure. Conclusions Greater evidence of overexposure was noted in the retrospective analysis of the EI. This pilot study shows the need for further investigation into exposure technique practices in digital radiography and the need for measures to halt the evidenced overexposure.
Background: Developing the critical thinking skills of student radiographers is imperative in an era of rapidly advancing technology. The status of the students' ability to demonstrate critical thinking skills needed to be explored for the Department of Radiography at a comprehensive university to determine if a more explicit curriculum was needed to facilitate these skills.Aim: The aim of this article is to present results of a study conducted to determine the critical thinking ability of 3rd year radiography students at a Comprehensive University in South Africa.Method: The research study used a descriptive exploratory design to collect both quantitative and qualitative data. Quantitative data was collected by scoring the participants ability to think critically when answering clinical scenarios posed in the form of vignettes given to the students under assessment conditions. The qualitative data was generated by in-depth field notes made inductively by the researcher.Results: The findings of this study indicated that the majority of participants demonstrated a minimal ability to think critically.Conclusion: The study results imply that in order to improve critical thinking skills of student radiographers, there is a need for curriculum adjustment, to nurture and encourage these skills. It is recommended that facilitators adopt methods to integrate these skills in the curriculum.
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