If you've recently obtained your ARRT certification to work in the radiology field, it's important for you to understand the mandates that are connected to your certification. In fact, in most states, you'll be required to maintain a certain number of continuing education hours to keep your certification valid. For those who have never had to deal with continuing education, the process can be confusing. Here are some things that you should understand about continuing education basics for your ARRT certification.

What Can You Use For Continuing Education?

Continuing education credits are limited to certain courses and programs. It's in your best interest to clarify which things are eligible by checking your online account and looking at the continuing education resources page. Many online courses, journals, and even some lectures can qualify for your credits. Just remember that anything you use for continuing education must be approved by ARRT and needs to be clearly relevant to the radiology industry or otherwise connected.

Do You Need To Provide Your Certificates Of Completion?

Anything that you do for continuing education credits should come with a certificate of completion or another document that confirms that you actually participated or attended. However, that doesn't mean that you need to provide those certificates as documentation when you certify your hours. Instead, you need to keep all of that documentation on file and accessible in the event that you're asked for it later as proof. In most situations, you won't need to worry about it, but sometimes your hours may be audited. In those cases, you'll be glad that you kept all of that information.

What Should You Do If You Receive A CE Audit Notice?

If you receive a notice that your continuing education hours are being audited, it's important that you respond appropriately. You'll be provided with a list of information that you need to supply and a deadline by which that information must be sent. Make sure that you respond to the audit notice before the deadline so that you take every possible step to preserve your certifications.

If, for any reason, some of your CE hours are invalidated as a result of this audit, you may be placed on a continuing education probation. You'll have a specific period of time (the probation period) to meet your CE credit hours, and if you do, the probation will be lifted. Otherwise, you may lose your certification.

Understanding the fundamentals of CE courses and your ARRT certification is important. Check with a continuing education provider like Get Your CEU for more information.