Monthly Archives: May 2015

#TOTW from 29-05-15 “Male Rape – Victims suffer. Survivors speak.”

Hey Folks!

The subject of this week’s #TOTW isn’t pretty, but then it can’t always be that way:

(1/2) Watch this short video to see how rape affects men as well as woman  Why abused men need the support to say ‘I’ve been raped’:

(2/2) Rape doesn’t just happen to women. Men, women, gay, str8, bi, trans -it affects everyone  ‘I was raped by another man. Now the state is cutting the one thing that saved my life’

I like to think that one of the purposes of my blog is to educate not only myself, but also you, the reader. I have known friends that have suffered male rape, and it’s not pretty. Whether you’re a guy or a girl, it happens to both. You may not know about it, or even want to know about it, but the purpose of my tweets and this blog is just to put the message out there. You may or may not know people that have gone through this. It happens.

If you didn’t see or read my tweets earlier in the week, then please take just a few minutes to educate yourself such that you can be there for a friend or relative, should you even need to be. Hopefully it will be information that you never have to call upon.

Stay safe and be happy.

Ben

Advertisement

Facebook: open or closed?

Another great radiographer blog! They just keep coming! Share, reblog, comment, like…or all of the above!

Word of Mouth Mammography e Network

I’m a member of a great Facebook group for radiographers. It boasts 4,224 members from around the world: a pretty impressive number. Many of my own clinical and academic colleagues and students are on there. The content is varied and can be very funny. Posts are rife with that radiographer black humour we used to share whilst standing around the processor; those 3 minute snatches of conversation afforded to us in the film processor days of the 80’s (showing my age now). With the advent of CR and, worse still DR, instantaneous imaging has resulted radiographers having to resort to on-line spaces to gossip. This Facebook group therefore fulfils all those desired qualities of an on-line community that Social Media purports to do.

Peachy… but there is a problem; it’s a ‘closed’ group. ‘Closed’ might suggest that any topic is ripe for discussion, and that posts will never be seen…

View original post 621 more words

Ode to the Radiographer Blogger

Wow! Thank you so much for the mention! Check out this great blog (not just because it mentions me!) as it shows the growing use of Twitter/Social media by radiographers!

janicestjohnmatthews

Last week @Agencynurse was collating a list of healthcare bloggers. It was one of those moments when I happened to pick up the tweet and was quick to reply to ensure radiography was represented in this list. So as a result of this tweet here are my top 4 radiography bloggers that I follow. No doubt there are others out there- please do let me know so I can add to the list.

Where it All Started. While I have been attributing my blogging ventures to the Happenista project before this rather large step I stumbled upon a blog by @radiographerben.  Yes I am involved with regular blogging as part of a level 2 undergraduate radiography module delivered here at UWE however this has a very academic tone and is only shared amongst a handful of learners. Consequently I started to explore if qualified radiographers blog and if they…

View original post 464 more words

#TOTW from 24-05-15 ‘Connect, learn, educate, reflect and inspire’

Evenin’ all!

Short and sweet today as i’m up against it with an essay deadline! This week’s #TOTW is actually a retweet, and one that I only retweeted today! I just feel that it encapsulates the reasons I am on Twitter and why I feel more of my fellow radiographers and other allied health professionals should jump onboard:

OT_Twitter

This image is taken from @OTthoughts otherwise known as Hayley Goodwin.

Take a look and see what you think. If you’re not already on Twitter, then come on, join the party and reap the benefits!

Over and out!

#TOTW (11-05-15) “You are not alone” – Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD)

This week, i’ve chosen to give another chance for people to learn a bit about Body Dysmorphic Disorder or BDD, so my chosen #TOTW is:

(2/2) You are not alone – Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD)

This is a short – just over 2 minutes – video from the BDD Foundation about what they describe as an “…obsessive anxiety condition that leaves people convinced there is something flawed or “ugly” about their looks.”

If you are interested in finding out more, then check out the other link I posted about BDD:

(1/2) Body dysmorphic disorder: charity video reveals the image anxieties that can push people to the edge

This article from the Guardian mentions Robert Pattinson and his struggle with BDD. He stated:

“I get a ton of anxiety, right up until the second I get out of the car to the event, when suddenly it completely dissipates,” said Pattinson. “But up until that moment I’m a nutcase. Body dysmorphia, overall tremendous anxiety… I don’t have a six-pack and I hate going to the gym. I’ve been like that my whole life. I never want to take my shirt off.”

I realise that in this day and age there appears to be a disorder for pretty much anything, but at it’s heart BDD is about anxiety, and we all suffer from that at some stage or another!

I hope you’ve learned something today, and that you might talk to people about BDD and maybe even share the links such that others can learn. Yesterday I watched Jonny Benjamin in his very emotional documentary “The Stranger on the Bridge“, about his struggle with mental health. One of the things he said that stuck in my mind was “It’s about connecting with people,” which is what I am trying to achieve with my radiographerben profile.

I hope I am…connecting with people.

Thank you for reading 🙂

#Hashtags explained!

Afternoon all!

I have been lucky enough to gain many new followers on Twitter in recent weeks  – and even a few more for this blog too, so thought I would just give a quick refresh for those who already follow, and explanation to those who are new, of what my regular #’s are!

They are as follows:

#TTT – Ted Talk Tuesday – As the name suggests, a Ted Talk video every Tuesday. Sometimes this will be on a medically-related topic, and sometimes it won’t! Just depends on what is around at the time!

#14TW – One For The Weekend – A tweet that has nothing to do with matters medical or radiographical whatsoever! It’s meant for fun and could be anything that is happening in the news at the minute, big state occasions etc, a music video, photos, or whatever takes my fancy on a Friday night/Saturday morning when I usually post!

#TOTW – Tweet of the Week – Usually a tweet that I feel deserves another airing, either because it’s a topic that I feel strongly about, or one that I feel didn’t get the exposure it deserved at the time of tweeting.

#4PUF – Four Previously Untweeted Favourites – Each week I favourite many tweets without retweeting them. On the last Sunday of each month I now retweet one favourite from each week of the month.

#TOTM – Tweet of the Month – From the end of this month I will choose one tweet that is my favourite from the past month. This may or may not be one of my #TOTW’s.

Hope this helps you all understand what my regular “slots” are and to continue to enjoy them!

Thanks!

#TOTW (x21!) Yep, you guessed it…”#SoRWEEK”

“Hello, good evening and welcome” (to quote the late, great Sir David Frost) …to the second feature week on radiographerben.

It has been – for those of you that hadn’t already noticed – #SoRWEEK. Last week, for the first time, I decided to have a feature week, and kicked it all off with #NHSWEEK. The idea of a theme to base my tweeting around was, or at least, appeared to me, to be fairly well-received, and so I decided to go straight into another feature week…lucky you!

I decided to choose my own professional body, and to base this last week’s tweets around the work of the Society and College of Radiographers (SCoR). I could have tweeted many more times than I did, however, I didn’t want to go overboard (whether I succeeded or failed in this, please let me know!) I wanted to get across what the SCoR does and the varied work and research that it is involved in. I hope I also succeeded in this aim!?

Here for your delectation – and future use (hopefully!) is the complete list of the week that was #SoRWEEK:

1. Do you know? What is radiography? Who are radiographers?

2. Here’s another chance to see my blog entry “A Day in the Life of…” This is what we do!

3. OK, so this doesn’t sound very exciting, but it’s handy! ‘New feature for SoR document library‘

4. Radiography, 21(1), Feb 2015, 11-15, ‘Radiology responsibilities post NPSA guidelines for nasogastric tube insertion‘

5. Great to see that ‘SoR to tackle issues‘

6. (1/3) Radiography, 21(2), May 2015, 108-109, ‘Editorial: Radiography research as a global community‘

7. (2/3) Radiography, 21(2), May 2015, 141-145, ‘The introduction, deployment and impact of assistant practitioners in..’

8. (3/3) Radiography, 21(2), May 2015, 146-149, ‘An exploration of adolescents’ perceptions of X-ray examinations’

9. I&TP, May 2015, 27-30, ‘Missed opportunities? Chest x-ray quality: The implications for early lung cancer diagnosis‘

10. , May 2015, 18-19, ‘SCoR launches new three-year strategy‘ Available online to at

11. (1/3) Radiography, 21(2), May 2015, 160-164, ‘Student radiographers’ attitudes toward the older patient‘

12. (2/3) Radiography, 21(2), May 2015, 165-171, ‘The Radiographer’s multidisciplinary team role in theatre scenarios’

13. (3/3) Radiography, 21(2), May 2015, 188-196, ‘AP vs PA … in lumbar spine CR: Image quality & individual organ doses‘

14. Get involved and have *YOUR* say as consults on ethics and conduct

15. Want to learn for free? Go to ‘e-LfH launches new learning system‘

16. Read this great blog about how we should start to tell the future generation about and our profession: RT : Today on the blog – Inspiring a Future Generation of Radiographers

17. (1/2) Radiography, 21(1), Feb 2015, 47-53, ‘A taxonomy of anatomical & pathological entities to support commenting…‘

18. (2/2) Radiography, 21(1), Feb 2015, 3-6, ‘Protocols & guidelines for mobile chest radiography in Irish…hospitals’

19. As comes to an end, I want to highlight the work my radiotherapy colleagues and their work

20. (1/2) encore! Another great article to mention and available online to in Radiography Vol 21(2)

21. (2/2) May 2015, e74–e80 ‘Social media: The next frontier for professional development in radiography‘

Now then, I could write a piece about each tweet, but that would make for an exceptionally long blog, and as I hope you’d know by now, that’s not my thing! Having said that, this is the longest to date I believe! However, I hope you will find it a useful resource. I also hope that you have enjoyed this last week as much as I have. It’s been great to shine a light on the work that my professional body is involved in, and to help educate people as to what it is we radiographers do!

I would really appreciate any feedback (for those of you that have made it to the end of this blog and are actually reading this bit!) as one of the main things I have enjoyed the most this week has been the interaction with my followers and fellow healthcare professionals. It’s great that we can use social media to connect with people all over the world and use it to share our experiences and knowledge. I truly believe it is a tool that we as radiographers, and other healthcare professionals, can use to enhance not only the knowledge of our own subject, but also to educate the wider public as to the work we do.

Thanks again to all those who have made the effort to get this far, and to those of you that helped make this last week, the most successful week on social media since I “created” radiographerben last year!

Please keep following and interacting with me…it’s the best bit!

#TOTW (x6!) “NHS Week”

Welcome to my first “feature week” on radiographerben!

You should all know by now the things I tweet about (The NHS, Dementia, Assisted Dying/Suicide, End of Life Care etc) so this week I decided to introduce a theme to provide a focus for my tweets – that being “#NHSWEEK.” This gave me the opportunity to share with you various websites, articles, documents etc that hopefully helped introduce you to some facts about the NHS that you didn’t know. So instead of 1 #TOTW, this week you get 6 for the price of 1:

1. Check out this amazing resource from on the timeline of the from 1942 to the present day

2. Check out this short video and read about the changes to how the is run since April 2015

3. *VIDEO* (<2mins) UK’s newest hospital set to open later in Glasgow

4. Have you ever heard of the ? Do you know what it says? Click on this link to check it out

5. Do you know who are? What they do? If not, checkout this short animation

6. Article from on next phase of reforms to way care to be provided

I hope that you managed to check out at least 1 or more of these during the week, but I thought it would be a good idea to collate them all here so that you can more easily see the topics that I covered, hopefully giving you a taste of the NHS and the massive organisation that it is. I had, and still have no intention to tweet about the politics of the NHS. That is not really what my blogging is about (on the whole!)

I certainly enjoyed putting together this new feature and the tweets therein, and I very much hope that those of you that take the time and make the effort to read my tweets and/or blog have also taken at least some pleasure from so doing!

Thank you, as always and I hope you enjoy the week ahead…”#SoRWEEK”

That’s all folks!

Henry Marsh (2014) Do No Harm – Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery. London: Orion Books Ltd.

Check out this book review…and then the book itself, by the sounds of it!

sewingfeet

Front cover Front cover

Back cover Back cover

I found this book a great read and the draw of “just another chapter” hard to resist. Inevitably there is some terminology put always well explained.

Henry Marsh’s medical career had an unconventional start by today’s standards. He describes how, as a young doctor, he became hardened and detached from his patients seeing them as a separate race from the all-important, invincible young doctors. Earlier in his career he describes himself as having felt threatened by and fearful of failure.  Approaching the end of his career he now feels less detached from his patients and more aware of his own vulnerability.

He talks about the reality of informed consent and how as patients awaiting surgery we tend to invest doctors with superhuman qualities.

Discussing the risks in the outpatients’ clinic he acknowledges that the patient’s choice to go ahead with surgery or not depends on how he…

View original post 619 more words