RTi3 2024 Innovate Keynote
Details
- Date: Friday, March 22, 2024
- Time: 9:10 AM - 10:00 AM EDT
- Event: RTi3 Conference
- Registration: Get your tickets here
- Title: "I Can Help": 40 Years of Raising My Hand
- Innovate Keynote: Nicole Harnett
Description
As a radiation therapist in the big healthcare machine, it is often hard to identify solutions to problems that exist in practice. Sometimes, it's even hard to identify the problems given the complexities of the system. But, with the right mindset and a desire to learn, both the problems and the solutions can be worked out. I have built my career on volunteering to assist with any challenge that I caught wind of – whether I was asked or not; whether I knew anything about it or not. What better way to take a hand in ‘being the change’ than to dive into the deep end? In this presentation, we will wander through my 40-year journey, highlighting where simply raising my hand put me in a position to be innovative and contribute positively to my profession – be it in building education pathways, establishing models for advanced practice, or finding ways to elevate the profile of radiation therapists.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this presentation, participants will:
- have an awareness of some key milestones in the trajectory of the radiation therapy profession
- have an appreciation of how engagement can advance the profession
- be able to describe some of the current challenges facing radiation therapy practice
ABOUT NICOLE HARNETT
After qualifying as a radiation therapist in 1984, Nicole Harnett, MRT(T), AC(T), BSc, MEd practiced clinically in Thunder Bay, ON before moving to the Odette Cancer Centre in Toronto, ON to join the RTT training program as faculty. She completed her masters degree in Medical Education and moved to the Michener Institute for Applied Health Science to build the first baccalaureate degree program for radiation therapy in Canada. She would go on to serve as the program director and eventually became the Dean of Imaging and Laboratory Science. In 2004, Nicole moved to Princess Margaret Cancer Centre (PMCC) to build the Accelerated Education Program, the continuing education arm of the Radiation Medicine Program at PMCC and to oversee the Clinical Specialist Radiation Therapist Project Series at Cancer Care Ontario (2004 – 2016) as principal investigator. The project garnered over $5M in financial support from the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care over 12 years. Over the next several years, Nicole led the development of a new professional masters program in the Institute of Medical Sciences at the University of Toronto. It was the first and only masters program specifically designed for radiation therapists in Canada.
Since the conclusion of the CSRT Project Series in Ontario, Nicole has remained heavily involved in the development and sustainability of advanced practice in Ontario, Canada and beyond. She is currently the Chair of the APRT(T) Certification Steering Committee at the CAMRT and Co-Chair of the International Community of Practice for APRT. She has numerous peer-reviewed publications, primarily focused on advanced practice in radiation therapy, including being co-editor of a book on research methodology for radiation therapists, and continues to collaborate with others who wish to support and build advanced practice in their local jurisdictions.