ACI – Certification for Radiological Equipment Specialist (CRES) Pretesting Course
This course is now offered online for select dates. Get RSTI quality training online with live interactive courses. Our online training courses are live and instructor-led, allowing students to interact and engage in real-time. Please email registration@rsti-training.com for more info.
Overview
The AAMI Credentials Institute (ACI) offers independent certification testing in the areas of biomedical, Clinical Lab, and Radiology. The radiological endorsement is called Certification for Radiological Equipment Specialist (CRES). The CRES exam is a three-hour closed book exam consisting of 165 multiple choice questions. The subjects on the exam are Anatomy & Physiology (10%), Public (employee, patient, visitor) Safety in the Healthcare Facility (10%), Fundamentals of Electricity & Electronics (10%), Healthcare Technology and Function (25%), Healthcare Technology Problem Solving (25%), Healthcare Information Technology (20%).
2025 Testing Windows
May 1-15, 2025
November 1-15, 2025
Please visit https://www.aami.org/training/about-aci for certification and application information.
NOTE: If you are US Army Active, this course may be available for funding through ArmyIgnitED. Please visit ArmyIgnitED to submit your credentialing assistance training request.
Prerequisites
Attendees must possess the knowledge acquired through attendance of RSTI’s Phase 1, 2, and 3 Certificate Series courses or the equivalent electronics and service experience. The ACI typically requires a minimum of 2 years of radiological experience before taking the CRES test.
Objectives
At the conclusion of this course, attendees will have successfully completed the seven major areas of study needed for CRES certification and will be fully prepared, along with their experiential learning , to pass the CRES test.
- Anatomy and Physiology
- Radiologic physics and safety
- Electricity and electronics
- Radiologic equipment applications
- Technical problem solving
- PACS, DICOM, and digital imaging
- Healthcare law, privacy, regulations, and governing bodies
Tuition: $1795
Course Length: 1 Week
CEU's Awarded: 4 CEU’s
Dates:
- Apr 28-May 2, 2025 - eLearning
- Oct 27-31, 2025 - eLearning
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Course Outline
- Radiation safety
- Radiographic physics
- The electromagnetic spectrum
- X-ray production
- Bremsstrahlung radiation
- Characteristic radiation
- Characteristics of the x-ray beam
- Radiographic system
- Production of x -rays
- Evaluation of factors affecting image quality
- The formation of the x-ray image- focal spot, filtration, collimation, and grids
- Film, screens, and processing
- Aerial image formation
- Photoelectric effect
- Compton effect
- Beam quality
- Intensifying screens effects
- X-ray film
- Sensitometric properties
- Hurter and Driffield Curves
- Transmittance
- Use and evaluation of technique charts
- Heat unit calculations – single/multiple exposures
- X-ray film processing – effects of time and temperature on image quality
- Other x-ray properties and parameters
- Capacity current
- Space charge effects
- Tomograghic image evaluation
- Grid ratio
- Image quality terminology
- Density
- Contrast
- Sharpness
- Detail visibility
- Resolution
- Factors affecting image quality
- CDRH Compliance testing
- Reproducibility
- Linearity
- Max R
- KV, mA, time, mAs accuracy
- Actual versus indicated SID
- Accuracy of x-ray field size
- Light field definition
- Minimum source to object distance
- Half value layer
- NCRP guidelines
- National Electrical Code guidelines
- Image intensifier
- Construction and operation
- Factors affecting image quality
- Common I.I. problems
- Typical image intensifier input doses for fluoro, photospot, and cine
- Magnification factor / inverse square law
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- Minification
- Modulation transfer function
- TV camera and video
- Vertical and horizontal deflection circuits
- Vertical and horizontal amplifier circuits
- Video waveform analysis
- Anatomy terminology – prefixes and suffixes
- Anatomy systems, organs, cells, diseases
- Endocrine
- Respiratory
- Integumentary
- Digestive
- Musculoskeletal
- Reproductive
- Excretory
- Circulatory
- Neural
- Physiology
- Normal functions of cells and organs
- Abnormal functions of cells and organs
- Anabolism and catabolism
- Cardiac waveform analysis – diastolic, systolic, and blood flow
- Patient positioning and terminology
- Electronic laws and equations
- Kirchoff’s voltage and current law
- Norton analysis
- Thevenin’s analysis
- Lenz’s law
- Boolean equations
- Electronic circuits
- Transistor biasing
- Series and parallel waveform analysis
- Resistive, capacitive, and inductive
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- Combination circuits
- Operational amplifier circuits
- Digital circuits
- Vacuum tube circuits
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- Formulas and calculations
- Impedance calculations
- Phase shift calculations
- Time constants
- Transistor gain calculations
- Resonant frequency calculations
- Conductor impedance calculations
- Hysteresis losses
- Conversions
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- Decimal to binary and binary to
decimal - Voltage, current, and power gain for AC and DC circuits
- Decimal to binary and binary to
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- Healthcare Information Technology
- Regulatory & Safety
- Medical Device Data Systems
- IEC 80001 – Risk Management for IT
- HIPAA
- DMCA
- Foundations
- Hardware
- Topology
- PC’s/Laptops/Servers
- Wiring
- Switches/Hubs/Routers
- Hardware
- Regulatory & Safety
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- Wireless
- PACS
- HIS/RIS
- MWL
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- SW/Applications
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- EMR/HER
- HIS/RIS
- Network Protocols
- Operating Systems
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- Test Equipment
- Security
- Problem Solving
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- Technical problem solving
- Waveform analysis
- Common problems
- System review
- Final exam! sample CRES questions
- Course critique