ALBUQUERQUE-More than 170 imaging and radiologic science educators met in Albuquerque, N.M., on June 11-12, gathering at the Hotel Albuquerque at Old Town for the AEIRS 2008 Annual Meeting. This year's event packed a number of educational sessions on a range of topics, lunch and learn sessions and its business meeting into two days, along with the "Dessert in the Desert" event at the National Atomic Museum, compliments of Pima Medical Institute. AEIRS 2008 also offered the organization the chance to recognize its own dedicated members, as it bestowed Fellow status on two longtime members and contributors to AEIRS.

Let the learning begin

Day one of AEIRS 2008 got underway courtesy of James Johnston, assistant professor of radiologic science at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas, and current AEIRS Board member. As attendees tucked into their breakfast pastries and coffee, Johnston welcomed the crowd to the 41^st annual AEIRS meeting-the organization's first "solo" meeting to be held separately from the ASRT Annual House of Delegates Meeting, he noted.

James Murrell, MSRS, RT(R)(M)(QM)(CT), director of the radiography program at Pima Medical Institute's Albuquerque campus and current AEIRS Board President, delivered the morning's first lecture; a lively presentation on mummy radiography.

"As you're eating your breakfast, we're going to talk about dead stuff," Murrell quipped as he addressed the audience.

Murrell passed on some tips on uncovering and imaging mummies, based on his experiences finding artifacts in South America and other locales. When looking for artifacts, he said, one should keep an eye out for depressions in sand, changes in soil color and texture, as well as scattered bones. When X-raying artifacts, low kVp is best. "50 - 60 [kVp]," he said, "seems to be the sweet spot."

Other topics covered during the first day included "Accreditation Trends in Radiologic Science Programs," "Vygotsky and Collaborative Learning," and "Job Satisfaction Among Radiation Science Educators," led by Jeffrey Legg, PhD, RT(R)(CT)(QM), associate professor and chairman of the department of radiation sciences at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Dr. Legg discussed various existing theories, models and studies regarding job satisfaction, identifying factors commonly related to job satisfaction such as work environment, salary, degree of autonomy and the work itself, of course. It's important to note, however, that individuals will put varying degrees of emphasis on each of those factors when determining their own level of job satisfaction.  

"We all have [our own] idea of what job satisfaction is," he said.

Dr. Legg also touched on what he referred to as "the graying" of current educators, noting that the first wave of baby boomers reaching retirement age could spell trouble for our educational system.   

"The potential still exists," Dr. Legg said, "that we may lose a lot of good people in a short amount of time."