RTE1824L – Radiographic Clinical Education III is the third supervised clinical course in Florida radiography programs, carrying 3 credits at Daytona State College — the point at which weekly clinical hours reach roughly full-time and stay there for the remainder of the program.
The third clinical term is where a student stops being a beginner. Competency in the high-volume examinations — chest, extremities, abdomen — has generally been established in the first two terms, which means the work now moves toward the axial skeleton, contrast studies, fluoroscopy, and more complex positioning, and toward carrying a real share of the department's caseload rather than being walked through individual procedures.
Content covers continued competency evaluation across expanded procedure categories; vertebral column radiography — cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine, sacrum, and coccyx, including the oblique and specialized projections; bony thorax — ribs and sternum; pelvis and hip — including trauma-modified projections; cranial and facial radiography — skull, sinuses, and facial bones; contrast studies — upper and lower gastrointestinal, urinary, and the technologist's role in fluoroscopy; contrast media — types, administration support, and recognition of adverse reaction; fluoroscopic operations — equipment, radiation protection during fluoroscopy, and image recording; pediatric and geriatric adaptation; image evaluation at a higher standard — judging diagnostic acceptability independently and justifying repeats; technique adaptation for patient condition, habitus, and pathology; workflow and efficiency — managing multiple patients and prioritizing; continued radiation protection; and professional development — communication with radiologists, nurses, and referring providers.
Offered at Florida institutions with JRCERT-accredited radiography programs.
Florida's imaging employment is broad and geographically distributed, with the state's large retirement population sustaining high imaging volume across hospital systems, freestanding outpatient centers, and orthopedic practices. Cross-training into CT is the single most reliable way to raise earnings early, and many Florida employers will support it for a technologist already on staff.
Clinical credit is heavily discounted relative to classroom credit: a lecture credit represents roughly 15–16 contact hours, while clinical education runs on the order of 100–130 hours per credit. Daytona State's sequence shows the progression clearly — RTE1804L (1 credit), RTE1814L (2), then RTE1824L, RTE2834L, and RTE2844L all at 3 credits. In practice that is roughly 8 clinical hours per week at the start, rising to 24 or more and staying there for the last three terms, on hospital schedules including early mornings, evenings, weekends, and call.
Two consequences. The credit line on a transcript is a poor guide to the time commitment, and students who attempt full-time employment through the back half of a radiography program are the ones who most often withdraw. And clinical time is JRCERT-accountable: missed hours must generally be made up on the affiliate's schedule, not the student's, and programs typically set strict absence limits with dismissal attached.
Worth keeping in view, because it reframes what these courses are for. The American Registry of Radiologic Technologists (ARRT) requires candidates to document a defined set of clinical competencies — specific radiographic procedures performed on real patients to a supervised standard — in addition to graduating from a JRCERT-accredited program and passing the certification examination. Florida then licenses radiologic technologists separately through the Department of Health under Chapter 468, Part IV, F.S. and Chapter 64E-3, F.A.C.
The practical consequence: a missed competency is not a lost learning opportunity, it is a graduation and eligibility problem. Track your own competency list rather than assuming someone else is tracking it, and pursue scarce procedures actively — some appear rarely, and students who wait to be assigned them reach the final term still short.
Until a student has documented competency in a procedure, it must be performed under direct supervision — a qualified technologist present in the room, reviewing the request, evaluating the patient, and approving the image. After documented competency, the student may work under indirect supervision, with a technologist immediately available. Any repeat exposure must be under direct supervision regardless of competency status.
That last rule is absolute, is a JRCERT accreditation standard, and is the one most often violated by a student trying to be helpful and efficient. Repeating an exposure unsupervised delivers additional radiation dose to a patient without a qualified professional's judgment, and it is grounds for dismissal at most programs.
New content in this term and the highest-acuity thing a radiography student encounters. Iodinated contrast media can produce reactions ranging from mild (flushing, nausea, hives) through moderate (bronchospasm, significant urticaria) to severe anaphylactoid reactions with airway compromise and cardiovascular collapse. Severe reactions are uncommon and they are not rare enough to be theoretical.
What a student is responsible for: knowing the screening questions — prior reaction, allergies, asthma, renal function, metformin use — and making sure they were asked; recognizing early signs and not leaving the patient; knowing where the emergency equipment and crash cart are before the examination; and calling for help immediately rather than assessing further. Know your department's protocol and know that a patient with a prior reaction requires physician awareness before the study proceeds.
An honest expectation for this term. Chest and extremity work is forgiving; cranial and vertebral positioning is not. Small angular errors produce non-diagnostic images, the positioning lines and baselines must be understood rather than memorized, and patients presenting for these examinations are frequently in pain or unable to cooperate — which is precisely when the positioning is hardest.
What works: learn the anatomy in three dimensions rather than as a list of projections, because that is what lets you adapt when the patient cannot assume the standard position; carry the pocket atlas and actually consult it; and ask technologists to critique your images and explain what they would have changed. Trauma adaptation — bringing the tube and receptor to the patient rather than moving the patient — is the skill that separates a competent radiographer, and it is developed here and in the next term.
Clinical placement requires a Level 2 background screening under Chapter 435, F.S., drug screening, a physical examination with documented immunizations including hepatitis B and tuberculosis screening, healthcare-provider CPR certification, and liability insurance. Affiliates may add their own requirements and can decline a student for their own reasons.
By the mid-program clinicals the failure mode is no longer obtaining these but letting them lapse. An expired TB screening or CPR card pulls a student out of a rotation mid-term, and the missed shifts must be made up on the site's schedule. Track your own expiration dates. Know the exposure protocol before you need it — needlestick and body fluid exposures happen and the response is time-sensitive — and know your program's policy on pregnancy declaration, which is voluntary and carries specific dose-monitoring consequences under radiation protection regulation.
Timing advice specific to the mid-program point. Post-primary certifications — CT above all, then MR, mammography, and interventional — are where the pay and the career ceiling are, and they require documented clinical experience in the modality. Students who use their elective rotations deliberately, ask for CT time, and build relationships in those departments are positioned to move into them after graduation.
CT is the highest-value target for most graduates: it is the most commonly requested cross-training, many Florida employers will support it for staff, and a technologist with ARRT (R)(CT) is substantially more employable than one with the primary credential alone. Say out loud that you are interested; departments generally accommodate a student who asks.
Clinical education courses show wide institutional variation, because programs divide the same overall clinical requirement into different numbers of courses with different credit values. Within this repository, RTE1804L alone appears at 1, 2, 3, and 4 credits at different Florida institutions, and titles shift as well — note that Florida also carries RTE2854L "Radiography Clinic V" alongside RTE2844L "Radiographic Clinical Education V."
SCNS equivalency applies to the same number at the same level, never across numbers — and even where the number matches, the credit value and the clinical hours behind it may not. This matters less than it might, because radiography clinical coursework does not transfer between programs mid-sequence in any case: competencies are tracked against a specific JRCERT-accredited plan and its clinical affiliates. A student who must relocate should expect to reapply and, in most cases, restart the clinical sequence. Plan to finish where you start.
Generated September 1, 2026 · Updated September 1, 2026