A model to facilitate critical thinking of radiography students.

INTRODUCTION: Critical thinking is a much-needed skill required by radiography students, across disciplines, when they graduate. The facilitation of critical thinking is a task that radiography educators are faced with in order to produce graduates who can apply these skills in the clinical setting, for the best care of the patient. The development of critical thinking skills is challenging, and currently there is no radiography-specific model which has been implemented and evaluated as a framework of reference for radiography educators. The aim of this article is to present a critical thinking model as a framework of reference that was implemented and evaluated by diagnostic radiography educators. METHODS: A theory-generating qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual design was used for the development of a model to facilitate critical thinking skills of diagnostic radiography students in a South African setting. RESULTS: A theory-generation model to facilitate critical thinking skills for radiography students was developed. The model was implemented and evaluated by radiography educators. Three themes emerged from the evaluation of the model after implementation. The results indicated the implementation of the model provided a platform for radiography educators to collaborate and purposefully tailor activities to incorporate critical thinking into their teaching. CONCLUSIONS: Through the implementation of the model, radiography educators felt empowered by using a framework of reference to facilitate critical thinking skills of radiography students.

Retrospective evaluation of exposure indicators: a pilot study of exposure technique in digital radiography.

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.