Monthly Archives: November 2015

#TOTW from 24-11-15 ‘Terms of endearment’

Ciao!

How is everybody this week?

This week I decided to make use of the Twitter poll functionality and my #TOTW was:

Do you ever use such as “love” when talking with your patients?

This all came about following a piece I read on the Care Quality Commission website about the use of terms of endearment in a care setting. I have to say I was rather surprised and ever so slightly saddened by the results. Only 25% of those who took part said YES, they did use terms of endearment when talking with patients and the remaining 75% said NO. I was expecting it to be a much closer result than that. Now of course I don’t know the demographics of those who voted – age, gender, how long since qualified, country, county etc etc! This would maybe give me a greater insight into why the vote went the way it did. Now I’m a northern lad and am quite happy using terms like ‘love’ and ‘sweetheart,’ so it’s not something I think too much of. I have always used these terms when talking to some of my patients, and have never had one of them said they were offended or looked disapprovingly at me. I feel it’s all about making a patient feel comfortable and at ease in the time they are in my X-ray room, and if by using these small terms of endearment that eases there experience of hospital at a time when they may be feeling vulnerable then I make no apologies for using such language.

I would be interested to know if there has been any research to date in the field of radiology and the use of terms of endearment, but this is not something I have had the time to pursue lately. I think this is a topic that I will be returning to in the future when I have had the opportunity to have a look at what research is out there, but I just wanted to put my marker down, and say despite being in what would appear to be a minority, I shall continue to make appropriate use of such terms of endearment as I feel comfortable using, and my patients are happy to hear!

Goodnight loves!

 

#TOTW from 17-11-15 ‘Three people have been convicted of FGM in a landmark trial in Australia’

Ciao!

Well for starters the eagle-eyed amongst you will have spotted the new header image! It is an extract from a textbook I found lying around in an orthopaedic theatre a while back, and it still brings a smile to my face every time I see it!

As for this week’s #TOTW i’m going to use it to highlight the issue of FGM – female genital mutilation:

‘Three people have been convicted of in a landmark trial in Australia’

This week saw the end of a trial in Australia that lasted over 2 months, whereby a mother along with 2 others were found guilty of having carried out FGM. The above link provides an interesting summary of the case and is worth taking a look at if you’re at all concerned about FGM and its continued practice in places all around the world. I also tweeted this week about another FGM piece in The Guardian – again, well worth a read:

Really interesting piece on efforts to get the community in Columbia to and to

I won’t say I hope you enjoy reading them, as they aren’t the kind of articles you “enjoy” reading per se. However, they are most certainly interesting, informative and educational.

Ben

#TOTW from 10-11-2015 ‘Why should disability have a face?’

Ciao!

Another week has zoomed by and here I am again! I have finally got round to uploading a profile pic – after just over 18 months of setting up the site!

As for my #TOTW, I have chosen an audio clip from a guy called Ste Walker:

‘Why should disability have a face?’

It’s less than 2 minutes long, so please make an effort to have a listen as it is a really good little piece on how we judge people from their looks, and if they look OK, then everything in their life must be peachy, right? Obviously not! In this piece Ste is referring to his physical health and the fact that because he looks well to those around him they think he *IS* well. This could equally be said of people who suffer from mental health issues, where because there are often no visible signs of ill-health people assume good health, so like Ste says in the piece:

‘Why should disability have a face?’

Answers on a postcard – or comment – to…

Ben

World Radiography Day 2015

Ciao!

wrd_2015_logo_web

Happy World Radiography Day or #WRD2015 if we’re talking in the language of #SoMe! This is the day that every year we celebrate the discovery of x-radiation by Wilhelm Roentgen in 1895. Thanks Wil!

There’s no #TOTW this week as I just wanted to mark this special day – and my 3000th tweet – with a thank you for the support all my followers have given me since I started tweeting as radiographerben back in December 2014! Some of my friends and colleagues in the world of radiography manage to blog more frequently – and in most cases, more eloquently than I – but I would like to think that my short blog entries on a weekly basis are finding homes on the smartphones, tablets and computers of my followers! I would love to have more interaction with my followers and others who just happen across my tweets and blogs. Please if you do already follow me then feel free to contact me via my blog or my Twitter @radiographerben and if you’re just passing through, then drop me a line and say hi!

I like to use my tweets and blogs both for myself in terms of my continuing professional development, and for the education/delectation of any of you that might be interested in the things I talk about. There are many subjects that I am passionate about (dementia, FGM, end-of-life issues, patient care, gender identity, the use of social media to promote and educate, antibiotic resistance and mental health to name several!) and I enjoy sharing this passion via the medium of social media, in my case, Twitter, Facebook and WordPress. I feel extremely privileged and very lucky to have built up the following that I have and sincerely thank each and every one of you that take the time to look at what I publish.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Here’s to the next 3000 tweets!

Ben 🙂

PS Seeing as it is #WRD2015 and I and my fellow #SoMe enthusiasts are doing our best to inform our followers and those that are interested as to what we as radiographers do, here’s a link to my blog from back in January of this year on what I, as a diagnostic radiographer do on a typical 12hr shift:

https://radiographerben.wordpress.com/2015/01/01/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-radiographer/

October’s #TOTM from 09-10-15 ‘Breast cancer is not just a female thing guys’

Ciao!

I’ve just had a trawl through last month’s tweets and there is one I want to pick out for another airing as it’s such an important message:

is not just a female thing guys

You might not have known it was…*IS*…possible for blokes to get breast cancer, so please, just spare a few minutes to click on the link and find out how to examine yourselves. It’s not just your balls you have to play with!

CHECK YOURSELF REGULARLY!

Over and out.

#TOTW from 31-10-15 ‘FGM reporting law comes into force’

Ciao!

Another good week with 11 new followers on Twitter. Haven’t had any new followers on here for a while unfortunately! Ah well, can’t have it all!

This week – yesterday in fact – saw the introduction of a new law that means allied health professionals, teachers, doctors and the like are duty-bound to report instances of Female Genital Mutilation or FGM as is is commonly known. My #TOTW therefore, is:

Calling all – reporting law comes into force

If you don’t know what FGM is and are in one of the above professions, then click on the link and find out out a bit more about it. Even if you’re not in one of the above-mentioned professions and are interested in learning a bit more about the subject then go take a look! There are many instances of FGM covered in the media these days and it would be great if more people were aware of the practice and the ways in which the international community is trying to eliminate it.

Thanks for taking the time to read this far!

Until the next time…

Ben 🙂