New93 role standards, now public
MedTality
Role standards

Imaging and diagnostics

CT technologist

What a newly credentialed CT technologist must do safely without supervision on a busy list: screen and inject contrast, keep the dose to what the clinical question needs, respond to a reaction, and keep time-critical patients moving. Drawn from the ARRT Computed Tomography examination content specifications, with the ACR Manual on Contrast Media for contrast practice.

Practice this assessmentHire for this role
Expectations
10
Safety red lines
4
Sources
3
Version
1

Built from American Registry of Radiologic Technologists, American College of Radiology, American Society of Radiologic Technologists. Reviewed by clinicians, last on .

01What the role is measured on#

Every verdict is made of the same five dimensions. Each is scored on its own, so a candidate sees where they are strong and where to work.

  • Clinical skillsThe hands-on and judgement work of the role: recognising what matters, acting in the right order, and knowing when something cannot wait.
  • Workflow and toolsGetting the work done in a real setting: the systems, records, equipment and handoffs the role runs on, used correctly and on time.
  • Patient communicationHow the role talks with patients, families and colleagues: listening, explaining plainly, and confirming what was understood.
  • Compliance and safetyThe rules that protect people: privacy, consent, infection control, reporting duties and the safety checks the role is accountable for.
  • Role knowledgeKnowing the job itself: what the role is responsible for, where its scope ends, and who to bring in when it does.

02What a ready hire does#

What a competent ct technologist does on day one, dimension by dimension.

Clinical skills

  • Screens every patient before contrast, takes a positive screen to the radiologist before injecting, and injects only through access that is suitable for the planned rate.
  • Selects and runs the protocol that answers the clinical question, with positioning, breath-hold and contrast timing that make the images diagnostic first time.

Workflow and tools

  • Reviews every study for completeness, coverage and artifact before the patient leaves, and knows which faults need a repeat and which need a physicist.
  • Runs the scanner list by clinical urgency, keeps the radiologist and referring teams informed, and never lets a time-critical patient wait behind a routine one.

Patient communication

  • Explains the scan, the contrast and the breathing instructions in words the patient can act on, and checks they have understood.
  • Makes sure the patient knows what the scan and contrast involve and agrees freely, and brings in the radiologist when they hesitate, refuse or cannot decide.

Compliance and safety

  • Keeps each patient's dose to what the clinical question needs, and treats a dose notification as a reason to stop and check.
  • Confirms the right patient, the right study and the right side with two identifiers against the order before any scan or injection.

Role knowledge

  • Recognises a contrast reaction or a deteriorating patient on the table, stays with them, calls for help at once and starts the first actions.
  • Knows the edges of the CT technologist's role and takes anything beyond them to the radiologist or ordering clinician.

03Safety red lines#

Any one of these keeps a candidate from Ready Day One, whatever the rest of the score. They are published so nobody meets them for the first time in the assessment.

  • Would inject iodinated contrast without screening the patient, or proceed past a positive screen - a previous allergic-like reaction, a kidney risk the policy flags, or access not rated for power injection - on their own judgment instead of taking it to the radiologist first.

    A repeat reaction in a patient known to have reacted, or a ruptured catheter, is a preventable injury that the screening exists to stop.

  • Would proceed past a CT dose notification or alert without checking why it fired and getting the review the policy requires, or would scan a child on an adult protocol.

    Unchecked settings have delivered many times the intended dose to patients, with hair loss and skin injury, and children carry the highest lifetime risk from an unnecessary dose.

  • Would inject contrast or scan after a patient with capacity has declined or withdrawn, or would tell them the contrast has no risk so they agree.

    Treating a patient who has refused is battery, and agreement obtained by misstating the risk is not consent.

  • Would finish the scan, leave the patient alone to find help, or wait to see whether it settles, when a patient shows airway, breathing or circulation signs after contrast.

    A severe reaction can close the airway or drop the blood pressure within minutes, and the delay is the harm.

04Outside the role#

Knowing where the role stops is part of the standard. Going past it is not extra credit.

  • Does not interpret images or tell a patient or relative what the scan shows.Tells the radiologist at once about anything that looks urgent, and tells the patient the results will come from their doctor.
  • Does not decide alone whether a high-risk patient receives contrast, prescribe premedication, or scan a patient who may be pregnant.Takes the screening result to the radiologist, who decides and orders, and documents that decision.
  • Does not give medications, including emergency drugs, without an order from a licensed practitioner.Starts basic life support, oxygen and positioning, calls for help, and has the drugs ready for the responding clinician or gives them on their direct order where state law and policy allow.
  • Does not obtain informed consent for CT-guided procedures, or change a protocol beyond the parameters the radiologists have approved.Verifies or witnesses the consent the physician obtained, and asks the radiologist when a protocol does not fit the patient.

05How it is assessed#

  • A spoken assessment

    An examiner talks the candidate through realistic cases from this role, and follows up the way a senior colleague would.

  • Five dimensions

    Each answer is read against the expectations above and rated on the same four-level scale.

  • The 70 bar

    Every scorecard shows the score against 70, overall and for each dimension, with the reason for the verdict.

  • Safety first

    Crossing one of the safety red lines holds a pass back, however strong the rest was.

The four levels

  1. Not yet
  2. Developing
  3. Proficient
  4. Exemplary
How a verdict is made

06Sources and review#

Drawn from the certification frameworks and practice standards below, and reviewed by clinicians. Version 1, last reviewed .

Cited as sources. Not an endorsement by the organizations named.

See who is ready on day one.

Post your next role and meet candidates through their evidence, not their resumes.

Start hiringFind a role