Students must maintain departmental clinic simulation laboratories with as much care and order as actual patient care facilities. Maintenance of laboratories in the clinic setting is the responsibility of practitioners; therefore, students are expected to assume maintenance and organization responsibility for laboratories in the educational environment.
Each program will provide students with specific procedures for maintenance and safe use of its laboratory. Many of these rules are mandated by federal or state regulations; therefore, failure to observe policies regarding laboratory use may subject a student to disciplinary action.
General Laboratory Guidelines:
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Students are not permitted to use any laboratory without first obtaining permission from a faculty member in their designated program. The faculty member must be present in the lab, Department and/or on campus depending on the program.
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All laboratory equipment must be correctly turned off when laboratory exercises are completed.
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Accidents, questions or problems when using laboratory equipment should be brought to the immediate attention of the supervising faculty member.
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Use of laboratory facilities after school hours is strictly by advanced arrangement with a faculty member, who must be on-site to supervise the activity.
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Lab materials including videos, images and equipment must remain in the laboratory unless a faculty member has authorized removal by a student.
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Laboratory supplies are purchased with student fees. Careful use of supplies and reduction of waste will assist in maintaining fees at their current level.
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Faculty should be notified when laboratory supplies are running low so more can be ordered in a timely manner.
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Eating, drinking, smoking, and other tobacco use is prohibited in laboratories.
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The image processing laboratory (AHB 1037) has specific guidelines for proper use and care of the equipment that are communicated by the specific program faculty.
Ionizing Radiation Laboratory Guidelines:
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For any laboratory exercises using ionizing radiation, a faculty member must be aware of the activity and on campus.
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In ionizing radiation laboratories, students may only use phantoms to perform procedures or activities. Under no circumstances should fellow students or human models be scanned.
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When a radiography faculty is not available for supervision, the X-ray and CT equipment exposure mechanism will remain disabled and locked.
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Doors to labs must be kept closed at all times. The door to AHB 1032 and AHB CT must be locked when x-ray equipment is being used.
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Students using AHB 1038 must always have badges and lab coats since there are sealed sources of radioactivity present. Additionally, if students use the sealed sources they must be returned and locked in the radioactive materials cabinet.
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Radiation dosimeters must be worn when working in laboratories using ionizing radiation.
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Students must follow all radiation safety policies applicable to the laboratory setting.
Sonography Laboratory for Scanning Human Subjects
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Students may scan fellow students or human models when an appropriate release form has been signed, a witness is present and faculty are on campus.
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Students should sign up for and/or request to be in the lab scanning at least 24 hours prior to scanning to ensure that faculty will be present.
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All scans performed in the sonography laboratory are for educational and scientific purposes
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Minors may never be scanned, even with parental consent
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Students should not scan themselves
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Scanning of pregnant patients will follow the profession’s AIUM Guidelines for hands-on scanning of pregnant subjects during educational activities which includes:
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Subject participation should require appropriate informed consent. The obstetrician providing prenatal care should provide written permission for the educational scan.
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There will be no first trimester examinations.
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The subjects should be without fever and have already received a prenatal scan in the 2nd trimester.
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Exposure time, i.e. duration of student scanning should not exceed 1 hour per subject per pregnancy.
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There should be no pulsed Doppler examinations.
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Examinations should be performed in a manner consistent with the As Low As Reasonably Achievable (ALARA) principle, including limiting the TI (≤0.70) and MI (<1.0) as necessary for educational purposes.
Managing incidental findings in the sonography laboratory
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When there is an incidental finding, the supervising faculty should be notified immediately.
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No attempt at making a medical diagnosis will be made.
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Observations made will not be used for medical treatment or management.
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No verbal or written report will be generated for medical purposes.
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The student or human model will be referred to their physician for follow-up.
