Radiation Therapy Technology Honors

The Radiation Therapy Technology Honors Program is an opportunity to learn more about areas in radiation therapy that pique your interest. The RTT Honors option is a great opportunity to go beyond the classroom and explore more ways to enhance your academic experience and patient care skills.

Steps to earning RTT Honors

Meet with your Academic Service Officer to discuss and declare your major as Radiation Therapy Technology Honors (RTH).
Develop a plan and select the semesters and courses in which you intend to fulfill your Honors requirements
Students will pair Honors 1, Honors 2 and Honors 3 requirements with four separate radiation therapy courses; Honors 2 will require two honors courses (specified within each honors section) and complete them in conjunction with the listed instructor.
For every course you intend to fulfill Honors requirements, you must complete an Honors Option Form.
Honors Option Forms allow students to earn Honors credit in undergraduate courses.
Be mindful of the due dates for each semester listed on the form and be sure to have your course instructor sign them.
Make an appointment with an advisor in the Irvin D. Reid Honors College to discuss options for the Honors Seminar (HON 42XX) course requirement. If you have any questions, you may call the Honors College at 313-577-3030 or email honors@wayne.edu.
Students will receive overrides for Honors Seminar course from an Honors College advisor.

Requirements

Graduate with a minimum cumulative university GPA of 3.5
Complete an Honors Seminar course (HON 42XX)
Fulfill requirements outlined in Honors 1, Honors 2 and Honors 3, described below.

Honors 1: Third Year

Prerequisite: RT 3110, RT 3000, RT 3010, RT 3140
Must have a minimum 3.3 cumulative GPA from Wayne State University to begin Honors 1.
Must be completed in: RT 3200 Therapeutic Interactions in Oncology Care
Complete two assignments, which are to be submitted to the course instructor by the date assigned.

Assignments will be graded and cumulation of the grades will be used to determine the Honors grade. The grade earned in the Honors assignment does not affect the grade earned in the overall course curriculum. Students may be required to meet with the instructor to review the grading of each assignment.

The instructor and student will establish two meeting times during the semester. This time will be used to share/summarize findings from assignments.

Lecture assignment (due mid-term)

Attend a lecture in the Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, an ASRT webinar, etc. This presentation should last an hour. After attending the lecture, answer the following questions:

Who was the speaker and what is their background?
What was the purpose of the presentation? What was discussed? Did the speaker integrate research into the presentation?
What did you learn from attending this presentation?
How will this presentation affect your patient care or your career?

Format:

Maximum one-page, double-spaced
12-point font
Due date: The lecture paper is due at the end of semester.

Research paper assignment (due with final exam)

Read a radiation oncology research article published within the past five years. The article must have some relevance to your interests. The journal must be a refereed journal.

Summarize the article. What was the purpose of the research? What did they do? What did they find (results)? Describe how the findings in the article can influence patient care as it relates to radiation therapy. What other research could be done?

Format:

No longer than three pages, double-spaced
12-point font
APA format must be used
Due date: The research article paper is due at the end of winter semester.
Good places to look are PubMed and CINAHL.

Honors 2: Fourth Year

Summer and fall semesters
Prerequisite: All students must complete Honors 1 assignment as a prerequisite to Honors 2.
Must have a 3.3 cumulative GPA from Wayne State University and a 3.4 GPA in Radiation Therapy courses to start Honors 2.
Must be completed in the following: RT 4240 & 4110
To fulfill the requirements for Honors 2, students will be required to present a research project for college research day and as a class lecture.
RT 4240: College Research Project; abstract and outline due at time of final exam
RT: 4110: Research project to be submitted in October; see College Research Day agenda for submission dates.

College Research Project Assignment

Students must submit a research project for WSU Applebaum's College Research Day. The student will follow the college research guidelines for this assignment. The student will also present this during a class lecture. Assignments will be graded and cumulation of the grades will be used to determine the Honors grade. The grade earned in the Honors assignment does not affect the grade earned in the overall course curriculum.

Students may be required to meet with the instructor to review the grading of each assignment.

The instructor and student will establish two meeting times during the semesters. The time will be used to share/summarize findings from assignments.

Assignment may not be combined with any other coursework.

Honors 3: Fourth Year

Winter semester
Prerequisite: Successful completion of Honors 1 and Honors 2.
Must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.3 from Wayne State University and a 3.5 GPA in RT courses to begin Honors 3.
Must be completed in RT 4370 Clinical Practicum VI
To fulfill the requirements for Honors III, students must complete each of the three assignments listed below.

Assignments are to be submitted to the course instructor by the date assigned. Assignments will be graded and cumulation of the grades will be used to determine the Honors grade. The grade earned in the Honors assignment does not affect the grade earned in the overall course curriculum. Students may be required to meet with the instructor to review the grading of each assignment.

The instructor and student will establish two meeting times during the semester. The time will be used to share/summarize findings from assignments.

Literature Review Assignment (due second week in February

Complete a literature review of a research topic or clinical problem related to course content or an area of interest initiated in an earlier Honors course or a National Patient Safety Goal. Must include a minimum of four journal articles published in the last five years.

Format:

Six to seven pages, double-spaced
12-point font
APA format must be used
Good places to look are PubMed and CINAHL.

Lecture Assignment (due second week in March)

Attend a lecture in the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences or other setting related to research, evidence-based practice, or ASRT webinar related to research in radiation oncology.

Format:

Maximum of two to three pages, double-spaced
12-point font
Discuss the experience or the lecture content, what the student learned, how research was evident in the presentation, clinical application.
May be linked to the student's literature review topic. For example, if students are interested in benefits of yoga for cancer patients, or meditation and tumor control, or the effect of support groups on quality of life, they may go to a yoga/ meditation/support group and link it to their literature review.
If students are looking at National Patient Safety Goals, consider interviewing an individual from quality improvements about the translation of these goals into practice.

Guideline assignment (due week of final exams)

Select a clinical problem (not a medical diagnosis) patients face while undergoing radiation therapy that has relevance for your interests.

Select a clinical practice guideline or literature review about your identified clinical problem (should be published within the last five years).

What organization developed the guideline? Who were the authors of the literature review?

Summarize the guideline/literature review. How was each done/developed? What was the purpose? What are three critical recommendations in the guideline? What were critical findings in the literature review?

Explain how one could use the guideline/review in your clinical practice.

Give an idea/example of an oncology research study that could be developed from the guideline/review.

Format:

No longer than three pages, double-spaced
12-point font
APA format must be used
Attach the article to the paper
Due date: The guideline paper is due at the end of semester.
Other places to look for guidelines/reviews:
- Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
- Cochrane Reviews
- National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)
- Professional organizations (ex. ASRT)

Honors 3 must demonstrate a high level of quality and reflect the accumulative work of the Honors program.