Background: The Accreditation Council for Lung Cancer CT Screening of Japan established guidelines for the certification of Radiological Technologists in 2009.
Objective: To analyze the trends in examination pass rates of the Radiological Technologists and discuss the reasons.
Methods: The cohort comprised 1593 Radiological Technologists (as examinees) based on 10-year of data (with a total of 17 examination runs). First, the examinees' written test results were analyzed. Second, an abnormal finding detection test was conducted using >100 client PCs connected to a dedicated server containing low-dose lung cancer CT screening images of 60 cases. The passing scores were correct answer rate >60% and sensitivity (TP) of >90%, respectively.
Results: Overall, 1243 examinees passed with an overall rate of 78%. The average pass rate for the written test was 91%, whereas that for the abnormal findings detection test was 85%. There was a moderate correlation between the test pass rate and average years of clinical experience of the examinees for the abnormal findings detection test (R = 0.558), whereas no such correlation existed for the written test (R = 0.105).
Conclusions: In order for accredited Radiological Technologists to serve as primary screeners of low-dose computed tomography, it is important to revise the educational system according to current standard practices.
Keywords: Lung; computed tomography; education; radiological technologist; training.