The AADMRT council has been working with U.C. Berkley Extension to allow us access to the material for training of future dental x-ray techs through the correspondence courses 800A and 800R. These required courses were offered to us in the past, but Berkley discontinued them in 1998 for a number of reasons.
I have been working with the Dean of U.C. Berkley, and the staff of the U.C. Extension classes to re-introduce these courses to us, and they came back with their reply stating that they will not be offering these courses again through their school. They said that the attendance was too low, and that they would find it costly to hire an instructor for the low student count per year. They also mentioned that the material was outdated and needed more information, and Berkeley was not interested in working on this, but they are interested in getting people trained in their field and going out in the work place to make a living.
After many phone meetings with them, and the support and help from Matt Kroona, Berkeley saw the need for this course to be offered again, but they are not willing to offer it themselves. Instead, they presented the AADMRT with the option to buy these courses from them. We (the AADMRT) can own 800A and 800R including the copyright, one paper copy each of 800A and 800R, one electronic copy of 800R, contact information to the printer who has the documents on file, and tests with answers to the tests. The price at which they are offering to sell this material is $5,000.00. for each course with a total cost of $10,000.00.
I have had open discussions with the AADMRT council members (voting and non-voting) to discuss and think about this. Matt Kroona has addressed some concerns from the council concerning these courses. Here are Matt's comments:
1) Is the material current? I would say that it probably needs some revision but the basics of radiation safety, physics, terminology; anatomy, etc. have not changed much over the years. Some of the California laws have changed but my guess is that the safety test hasn't changed much either over the years so I expect that it will do a decent job of educating our techs. I would plan on budgeting some additional money for updates, revisions, data input, scanning, etc., certainly not more than $5000.00.
2) What will be the cost of this course compared to an LP school? Berkeley was charging around $700 for this class. LP schools charge between $2,000- $3,000. I would expect we would charge $1,000, bringing our total school cost to $2000 plus books. At $2,000 per student we would make back all the cost of buying the Berkeley program in probably 1-2 years. I know 5 or 6 labs that want to train techs and would jump on this the minute it becomes available.
3) Is Matt interested in being the administrator? It makes complete sense to add this to our existing school, which I currently administer. I expect that in the initial stage, I will work with Craig and others to incorporate the Berkeley portion into ours. Once things are moving smoothly, I think we should consider bringing in an assistant (possibly paid) who would handle paperwork, notebook production and distribution, tests, etc. I don't see myself stepping away from my duties as administrator in the near future, but I do see it becoming more than I can or want to handle alone.
4) Will the state approve it? Our school was originally approved with the Berkeley program as 1/2 of our curriculum. When Berkeley dropped the program, the people from the state suggested that we buy the program from Berkeley. There is no doubt in my mind that the state will approve this. In fact, I am not planning on even asking them. I am planning on adding it to our program as it was approved originally, with us administering it instead of Berkeley.
- Matt
In conclusion, we have had many weeks of discussion regarding the 800s, and with the approval of the AADMRT council, I signed and mailed the contract agreement to purchase these courses from Berkley on July 19th. We should be getting the material within the next few weeks, and you will have an update on the progress of this by the fall conference.
Even though this is currently a California issue, it may end up being a great opportunity for the entire AADMRT. We would have a fully accredited school for dental x-ray technician training. We could quite possibly get other states to adopt California's strict codes for training, and we could become the one and only school nation-wide for dental xray technicians, therefore we would be able to offer, "AADMRT certified and trained."
Here are a few other quotes from your council members regarding the 800s:
"I feel that this is a very unique opportunity for the AADMRT to finally be able to offer a complete course to train dental x-ray technicians. The benefits of the AADMRT offering a fully accredited dental x-ray technician course are huge" - Eric Iwamoto
"What a great opportunity for AADMRT...I vote a definite YES." - Kevin Fox
"If the State of CA approves of this offering, through Berkeley or AADMRT, we would be foolish to let it slip away. AADMRT can then offer it to new trainees and offer a deluxe certification program using 800 A/R and the AADMRT course load. It is worth every penny". - Kathleen Cox
"I am in complete support of AADMRT purchasing the 800A and 800R programs from Berkeley. Thank you to Craig and Matt and anyone else that is putting forth their time and effort to see us though this possible adventure." - Merry Hampton
"I say "yes" this is going to be such a good thing for the AADMRT." - Tracey Saucier
"I see many doors opening for us as an organization that can offer to "out of state" people our dental x-ray extension courses. I just want to insure ourselves that the direction of the state (CA) is to uphold these courses once we are distributing them. I am in favor of purchasing these courses and think that we should get a committee of dedicated people who can help Matt do some legwork. I will be happy to volunteer if I would be of any help." - Devery Wallace
"I'm in favor of AADMRT buying the courses. It would give the organization not only educational clout in CA but would be valuable in all other states as well." - Duane Perry