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These Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s) aim to assist registered medical radiation practitioners, employers, education providers, students and others to understand the 3rd edition of the Professional capabilities for medical radiation practice (Professional capabilities).
The Professional capabilities were released on 7 November 2025 come into effect on 30 March 2026
The Professional capabilities for medical radiation practice only apply to registered medical radiation practitioners. They do not apply to other regulated health professions and do not apply to individuals who are not registered including those individuals who may be unregistered but practising in areas such as MRI or ultrasound. It is also important to acknowledge that the title of ‘sonographer’ is not a protected title in the National Scheme.
However the Professional capabilities may offer some guidance for other health professions or professionals whose practise overlaps or mirrors that of registered medical radiation practitioners.
As a member of a multiprofessional or interprofessional team, medical radiation practitioners will be the expert in diagnostic radiography, radiation therapy and nuclear medicine practice. Other health professions will be expert in their professional fields noting that on many occasions the skills, knowledge and expertise of team members will overlap. Good functioning teams requires each practitioner to listen, to engage, to support, to lead and enable others to lead elements of the teams' work.
No, inclusion of these modalities is not a mandatory requirement for accreditation or approval of the program. While these services are valuable areas of healthcare and closely associated with medical radiation practice several considerations apply:
Requiring education providers to deliver and assess learning outcomes in all these areas may:
Education providers, who are informed by local course advisory committees, are best placed to understand the needs of health services and practices in their catchment area.
The Professional capabilities provide clarity for registered practitioners about safe professional practice, while allowing education providers a degree of flexibility in their curriculum. Education providers may include additional content in programs with learning outcomes that align with the Key capabilities for ultrasound, MRI mammography or angiography.
Yes. Accreditation standards require education providers to develop programs of study with learning outcomes that are designed to meet or demonstrate the key capabilities and enabling components of the Professional capabilities for the relevant division of registration. For a program to be accredited, the education providers and their programs must demonstrate that students and graduates are taught and assessed against the learning outcomes.
Accreditation of the program provides assurance to the National Board that graduates are appropriately qualified for registration and safe to commence practice.
Yes.
The capabilities described in Domain 6 are as relevant for graduates as they are for team leaders, managers or directors
Leadership is conceptualised not as a position but as a set of behaviours and responsibilities.
Leadership in this context should be seen as a practice, not a position.
(See also the Implementation information sheet – Supporting graduates)
Cultural safety and culturally competent care, for example, was first described a minimum key capability in 2020. Graduates over the last few years arguably have a more in-depth understanding of cultural safety and culturally competent practice than those who completed programs prior to 2020*. Graduates, therefore, are often well positioned to identify and initiate enhancements to systems and lead or support changes that support improved culturally safe care.
In another example, managing the impact of climate change and the sustainability of the health system requires all individuals to contribute. One area that medical radiation practitioners can contribute to is the use or overuse of health resources within medical radiation practice. Over-investigation using medical imaging is a well-known problem. In these circumstances the medical radiation practitioner will need to lead and facilitate discussions with the team and with the patient about appropriate care and use of resources.
(*It is recognised that registered medical radiation practitioners have undertaken professional development activities designed to meet capabilities for culturally safe care).
All registered medical radiation practitioners, including new graduates, must be capable of recognising and responding to life-threatening clinical deterioration.
This includes:
Yes, but! Graduates commence practice with limited clinical experience and limited exposure to the various states and guises in which disease or other pathological processes may present.
Graduates and early career practitioners must also be aware of this limitation.
Where a graduate or early career practitioner identifies or suspects an urgent or unexpected finding they should consult with a more senior medical radiation practitioner in the first instance. If a senior practitioner is not available, the next step is to seek advice or guidance from a reporting practitioner if one is available or the referring practitioner.
It is important for all medical radiation practitioners to document critical information in the patient’s healthcare record including the information shared with other health practitioners and/or members of the multidisciplinary team. This is essential for patient safety and supports subsequent communications and decisions about care.
The Professional capabilities do not impose an obligation on medical radiation practitioners to make specific diagnoses. The responsibility for making a definitive diagnosis lies with the reporting practitioner.
No, not explicitly, but research literacy is essential.
Medical radiation practitioners must be able to analyse, interpret and implement research evidence into practice.
Under Domain 4 – Lifelong Learner, practitioners are expected to:
While conducting original research is not a requirement, graduates should appreciate the role research plays in advancing the profession and enhancing patient outcomes.
Yes. There are differences, importantly, a combination of both competence and capability is required. In terms of describing minimum thresholds, we use ‘capability’ intentionally to describe the potential of the medical radiation practitioner.
Competency is about ‘doing’—specific skills that can be demonstrated, measured, and evaluated.
As part of meeting the learning outcomes of an accredited program of study, a student is assessed on their ability to safely perform a CT scan of the chest, abdomen, and pelvis using iodinated contrast media. Following the specific protocols of the placement site for patient preparation and scanning, the student is assessed as competent by the clinical educator in all aspects of patient care and imaging.
After graduation, the practitioner accepts a role at a public health facility where protocols for patient preparation, contrast administration, and scanning techniques differ from those used during their clinical placement. Drawing on their understanding of safe CT imaging practices, the graduate adapts to the new protocols. While gaining confidence, they actively seek guidance from more experienced medical radiation practitioners to ensure safe and effective practice.
Not necessarily.
Recency of practice and the Professional Capabilities are related but distinct concepts.
Registered practitioners have ongoing obligations through the Code of Conduct to:
Practitioners should proactively prepare and complete necessary training before new requirements take effect.
For further information see the FAQ below on CPD and Professional capabilities.
Workplace roles and practice change, adapt and respond to a range of influences. It is expected that over time, your scope of practice will change.
In changing to a more focused area of practice, your scope of practice can become limited to that area of practice i.e. your scope of practice may narrow.
It is therefore important that you: a. recognise and work in the limits of your competence and scope of practice, which may change over time; b. ensure that you maintain adequate knowledge and skills to provide safe and effective care; and c. when moving into a new area of practice or resuming a broader scope of practice, you complete sufficient training and/or qualifications to achieve competency in that area.
No. However, a good plan for CPD will typically involve a broad range of learning or development, not just technical skills. It might involve updating knowledge around communication or consent, cultural safety, national standards, ethical practice, evolving technology or areas of practice.
All medical radiation practitioners are responsible for maintaining contemporary skills and knowledge necessary for their area of practice and adjusting their practice accordingly.
It is important that medical radiation practitioners reflect on their current practice, assess and understand where changes may be occurring and take steps to ensure their knowledge supports safe practice.
Yes. This is one of the capabilities that has a universal application.
Medical radiation practitioners as professionals not only have a role to care for patients, they also have a role in caring for the community. This means they have obligations to provide basic life support for a person who is not their patient, but needs their help to support life.
For example, consider a medical radiation practitioner working in policy. A work colleague, who is not the patient of the registered practitioner becomes acutely unwell after ingesting peanuts and shows signs of anaphylaxis. The registered medical radiation practitioner must know the signs and symptoms of anaphylaxis and first line treatment to provide the initial life-saving response.
In another example, a registered medical radiation practitioner working in education witnesses a student collapse. The student is not breathing and has no pulse. In this circumstance the registered practitioner has an obligation to recognise and respond to the person’s acute deterioration and to call for help, implement cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and, if available, use an automatic defibrillator (AED) until more help arrives.
A newly graduated and registered medical radiation practitioner is expected to demonstrate foundational clinical knowledge, essential technical skills, and provide patient-centred care consistent with the ethical and professional standards described in the Professional capabilities for medical radiation practice and the Code of Conduct.
By the end of a their course of study a graduate has completed a significant amount of work-integrated learning (WIL), however graduates may require support to adjust to:
The workplace, clinical educators and experienced practitioners play a critical enabling role in leading and supporting the transition of graduate practitioners by:
A supportive organisational1 culture helps graduates:
Research2 highlights that a robust induction program:
1. Naylor S, Ferris C, Burton M. Exploring the transition from student to practitioner in diagnostic radiography. Radiography 2016;22(2):131e6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.radi.2015.09.006. 2. Bombelli L., Roletto A., Bonfitto G.R., Scaramelli E., Fasulo S.V., Catania D. Evaluation of the induction programme for newly qualified radiographers: A survey study (2024) Radiography, 30, pp. 143 - 148, DOI: 10.1016/j.radi.2024.11.016
The Professional capabilities are the minimum requirements for registration, they also describe the minimum level of performance that can be expected of a registered medical radiation practitioner in the relevant division of registration.
For education providers the Professional capabilities are couched within Accreditation standards. In meeting the accreditation standards an education provider must ensure graduates of a program of study have met each of the minimum capabilities relevant to the division of registration (diagnostic radiography, radiation therapy, nuclear medicine technology).
A graduate of an accredited program of study, whose qualification is approved by the Board, is qualified for general registration in the profession.
Workplace roles and practice change, adapt and respond to a range of influences. The intent of the Professional capabilities is to reflect the dynamism of practice and health service needs.
You must apply the Professional capabilities in the context of your current scope of practice or intended future scope of practice. It is expected that, over time, your scope of practice will generally change. This may occur because you decide to focus on a particular area of practice (e.g. MRI or theronostics), or a patient group (sports imaging) or by moving into a different role such as a manager, researcher or academic.
In changing to a more focused area of practice, your scope of practice can become limited to that area of practice i.e. your scope of practice may become more restricted or limited.
It is therefore important that you:
For most practitioners, you will already be meeting your relevant professional capabilities either through formal education or other continuing professional development (CPD) activities (e.g. formal education, training courses or learning activities). Your obligation from this point on is to ensure that you maintain competency in your area of practice, which also includes completing training or other development activities relevant to your practice.
No. The Recency of Practice registration standard requires that you practice for at least 450 hours in the previous three-year period. The definition of practice is broad and recognises that practice can take a variety of forms.
See Case study 1 on Professional capabilities and recency of practice below.
As a registered practitioner you must ensure that you meet the capabilities relevant to your area of practice. Put another way, you may not need to meet capabilities in some of the technical areas of practice (e.g. MRI) but you must maintain a baseline capability in areas such as communications, evidenced based practice professional and ethical conduct etc.
For example, if you do not practise in the area of computed tomography (CT) you do not need to meet those capabilities.
However, as described in the Code of conduct (the Code), practitioners have an obligation to
No. If you are not practicing in those areas you do not need to meet the capabilities for those modalities.
The capabilities for CT, US, MRI only apply if you are engaged in or is otherwise providing health services using the relevant piece of equipment.
The Professional capabilities describe the minimum capabilities that apply to your relevant area(s) of practice at any given point in time. Similar to the question above, you need to ensure that you meet the Professional capabilities relevant to your area or scope of practice.
For non-clinical practitioners, the capability domains such as professional and ethical practice, communication and collaboration and life-long learning are still to be relevant to your practice. There will also be other capabilities and enabling components such as managing anaphylaxis that you will need to meet as well.
For some managers, who occasionally provide direct clinical care, you must still be deliver care in a manner that is consistent with the minimum capabilities for your area of practice.
Joel is a diagnostic radiographer who previously worked in CT, but is now in a job where he works part-time in a practice that does not have CT. Joel is concerned that he cannot meet the recency of practice (ROP) requirements because he doesn’t practice in CT.
Professional capabilities and ROP are two related but different requirements. Capabilities describe the minimum threshold requirements for practice, whereas ROP describes a minimum period of time that a practitioner should spend practicing in their scope of practice to remain competent.
While Joel may have been competent to perform CT at one time, the longer Joel is away from that area of practice, the more likely it is that Joel may not be able to perform CT safely and effectively.
To regain competency, Joel should discuss his aims with an experienced practitioners. He should establish a plan for re-establishing knowledge, practice under supervisor and have his competency assessed. He may need to complete formal education or training that ensures that he could again meet the minimum capabilities for practice in CT.
Anytime Joel is performing CT he must ensure that his practice is consistent with the minimum capabilities.
‘Sonographer’ is not a protected title under the National Law and can be used by registered and unregistered practitioners alike.
The Professional capabilities for medical radiation practice only apply to registered medical radiation practitioners who perform US. If you are a registered medical radiation practitioner, then yes, the revised Professional capabilities will apply to you.
If you are a registered nurse, physiotherapist or medical practitioner, the Professional capabilities with respect to US do not apply to you.
If you are not a registered medical radiation practitioner, the Professional capabilities do not apply to you.
This is a question about scope of practice.
The Board protects title, not practice (although noting there are practice protections that exist in the National Law but do not apply in this case). What this means is that, any registered health practitioner can use ultrasound in their practice, so long as they demonstrate that they meet the requirements of the Code of conduct, and in terms of practice they meet the Professional capabilities, relevant to the simple activity.
The Code of conduct gives direction on what good professional practice looks like when changing one’s scope of practice. Part 2.2 of the Code describes the obligations you have as a registered medical radiation practitioner including:
Maintaining a high level of professional competence and conduct is essential for good care. Good practice involves:
Ordinarily competent practice in diagnostic ultrasound requires formal education and/or training that properly prepares a practitioner to provide a broad range of safe ultrasound examinations that primarily focusses of imaging and diagnosis / image interpretation at the same time. However, there are a number of simple ultrasound uses that are limited in nature and scope for which a lower level of training is acceptable.
Good professional practice requires that before carrying out, even simple examinations or procedures, you must ensure that you are competent to provide that limited or simple service in a safe way. In terms of limited use US, the Professional capabilities place an obligation on a medical radiation practitioner to use US in a safe and effective way.
If you are using US, even for simple activities, you must be able perform it safely and effectively in a manner consistent with the Key capability and meeting the Enabling components that are relevant for the limited nature or scope.
For example, when a practitioner wishes to expand their scope of practice to include using US for vascular access purposes, training could be completed through a short course with a relevant professional association. Alternatively, training could be delivered in the workplace by an experienced practitioner who holds formal qualifications in diagnostic ultrasound and capable of assessing competency. For a broader scope of practice in US, for which there are greater levels of risk for patients, the skill and knowledge and competency requirements ordinarily require education that is delivered in a formal training program.
The US capabilities do not apply to unregistered practitioners or practitioners who are registered in another health profession such as the nursing or medical professions.
Practice guidance or concerns about other registered health practitioners (e.g. nurses and medical practitioners) are dealt with by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia, the Medical Board of Australia or the National Board relevant to the health profession.
Practice guidance and any concerns about unregistered practitioners is covered in the Code of conduct for unregistered health professions. Further information may also be provided by the health complaints entity or government health departments in each state or territory.
Safety in MRI includes maintaining the integrity of MRI safety zones, applying principles of electromagnetic fields and forces (static, gradient and radiofrequency), minimising the bioeffects of magnetic fields (including tissue heating and peripheral nerve stimulation) exposure limits (including specific absorption rates), assessing and managing device / implant / projectile / acoustic risks, pre-examination safety screening, procedures in the event of quench and emergency procedures for the distressed or deteriorating patient.
The Key Capability for medicines used in practice (Domain 1, Key Capability 8) applies to risks associated with contrast agents used in MRI.
It is expected that any training or education designed to meet the Professional capabilities should thoroughly address the elements identified in the definition of MRI safety.
All registered medical radiation practitioners must be able to recognise and respond to signs of physiological deterioration, including anaphylaxis and other adverse events. This is a core professional capability under the 2026 Professional Capabilities for Medical Radiation Practitioners.
To meet these requirements, practitioners should:
Regular participation in simulations or refresher sessions supports team-based preparedness and helps ensure a timely response to deterioration.
The National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standard 8 (the standard) describes a standard for recognising and responding to acute deterioration. It should be noted that the standard applies to a healthcare organisations and medical radiation practitioners who are an essential component of the healthcare team; they are then expected to actively contribute to making the system of care a safe one for patients.
In general, a healthcare organisation will have protocols that specify criteria for escalating care, including:
Medical radiation practitioners are expected to be able to respond to the acutely deteriorating patient and:
From 30 March 2026, all registered medical radiation practitioners must have completed, be enrolled in, or be in the process of completing recognised training that enables them to recognise and respond to acute deterioration and anaphylaxis.
Recommended training options include:
These qualifications meet the learning outcomes for recognising and responding to physiological deterioration and for managing anaphylaxis.
Practitioners must maintain current certification in basic life support and anaphylaxis management in accordance with employer and jurisdictional requirements.
No, this is not a specific requirement. However, using these devices is generally not technically demanding. Medical radiation practitioners have a broad depth of skills and knowledge and the capacity to use these devices would be a useful and complimentary skill set.
Adrenaline is classified as a Schedule 3 medicine in all Australian jurisdictions. Medical radiation practitioners may use adrenaline autoinjectors for first-aid treatment of anaphylaxis. In some states and territories, trained practitioners may also use pre-filled syringes or ampoules if authorised by local legislation and organisational protocols.
Practitioners should be familiar with the specific authorisations and conditions that apply in their state or territory and follow their organisation’s policies for recognising and responding to acute deterioration and ensuring medication safety.
Medical radiation practitioners usually work in multidisciplinary teams. Most often they work alongside medical practitioners and nurses, but they also work with a wide range of health practitioners including those involved in research or education or other non-clinical roles. Medical radiation practitioners work as members of the team and on occasion leaders of the team.
Practitioners will also work in many different teams as part of their usual practice. Often individual healthcare teams will be constructed and operate differently according to the requirements of the organisation. This means that the roles that each health practitioner fulfils in the team may also vary.
It is important that medical radiation practitioners understand, acknowledge and respect the roles and responsibilities of healthcare team members which may include registered health practitioners, accredited health professionals, and licensed and unlicensed healthcare workers.
The revised Professional capabilities require that practitioners communicate clearly and effectively with patients, their families and/or carers.
This obligation also extends to collaborating and working effectively with other health practitioners.
The National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards provide a nationally consistent statement of the level of care consumers can expect from health service organisations.
Standard 6 addresses communicating for safety in a healthcare environment.
It is expected that you take an active role in communication with other health practitioners and patients to ensure that communication loops are closed, and the patient remains sufficiently informed about the next steps in their care.
Medical radiation practitioners have a professional duty to communicate clearly, accurately and respectfully with all members of the healthcare team to ensure safe, effective and coordinated patient care. Communication should be timely, factual and documented in line with local policies and the National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Communicating for Safety Standard.
Medical radiation practitioners should:
If a significant finding is identified, practitioners must notify the appropriate clinician without delay. This responsibility includes confirming that the information has been understood and acted upon. All communications must be documented in accordance with workplace procedures.
Communication must always uphold patient confidentiality, privacy and dignity. Practitioners must use language that is professional, culturally sensitive and respectful, avoiding assumptions or expressions that could be considered discriminatory or inappropriate.
