Tag Archives: Radiography

December 2016 #4PUF

Ciao!

As per usual, here is my #4PUF selection for the month just past:

(4/4) This would also help radiographers justify requests! The more info you give, the easier it is to justify them! @SCoRMembers #4PUF “PLEASE Referring clinicians, put all the clinical history on your imaging requests!! It can make such a difference when we report them!”

bozzvid

(3/4) To quote a former Prime Minister, “Education, education, education.” #LGBTI+ #4PUF “95% of young people don’t learn about LGBT relationships at school. That’s simply not good enough.” http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/schoolboy-killed-himself-shortly-after-9498762?ICID=FB_mirror_mainzenon-bartlett

(2/4) Do you think you might be able to help someone and #EndLoneliness? #befriending @age_uk @TheSilverLineUK #4PUF “We loved meeting Roy this morning: he’s been suffering from loneliness since his wife died but an @Age_UK befriending service has helped…” https://twitter.com/BBCBreakfast/status/805715104322887680

(1/4) Take a look at this #WhereIsDisfigurement campaign from @FaceEquality #EqualityandInclusion #4PUF “Yesterday we launched our #WhereIsDisfigurement campaign. Have you taken a look yet?” http://qoo.ly/ci2mmchangingfaces

That’s your lot for 2016 folks – more #4PUFs to follow in the coming year!

Thanks for reading, watching and listening!

Ben

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#TOTW (x17) #MedShift is back!

Ciao!

I know I’m a few days late with this, but i’ve been enjoying my off duty – post #MedShift! As with the last time I did this, I thought it might be an idea to collate all my posts into a sort of journal, and so here they are…recorded yet again for posterity:

Thursday (1/4)

  • After off duty days it’s time to return to #MedShift with 4 long days, 1 x 10-8 shift today then 3 x 8-8 days #NotMyFavourite @SCoRMembers
  • Starting the day in #Outpatients – GP referrals & clinic follow-ups. Can be anything from head to toe! #BringItOn @SCoRMembers #Medshift
  • Time for an early tea then off to A&E for the final part of the #MedShift – quite often the busiest part of the day! #DeepJoy @SCoRMembers
  • #Medshift 1 of 4 done ✅ 3 more to go! Last part of the shift wasn’t all that bad thankfully. Hometime. Shower, tea n’ tele ☺️👍 @SCoRMembers

 

Friday (2/4)

  • Handover from nightshift ✅ Rooms cleaned ✅ Resus trolley checked ✅ Left AED to come to #Outpatients again #MedShift day 2 👍 @SCoRMembers
  • Am in #FractureClinic this morning and just been shown how to do a standing axial calcaneum ✅ #EverydayASchoolDay #MedShift @SCoRMembers
  • #MedShift ends with a #traumacall – no plain film imaging required as patient going to CT! Handover to nightshift ✅ Hometime! ✅ @SCoRMembers

 

Saturday (3/4)

  • #MedShift 3/4 underway & it’s the weekend so running X-Ray’s from AED. Inpatients, mobiles, theatres the lot! #SeeWhatGives! ✅ @SCoRMembers
  • Halfway through the #MedShift, just finished lunch & theatre have called – just an MUA today ✅ Off I go! 👍 @SCoRMembers #ChangeOfScenery
  • Straight from the MUA to another theatre & an emergency pacing – not done one of those in a while #BitRusty 😱 ✅ #MedShift @SCoRMembers
  • Home at last, after a long #MedShift! Lots of portables today. ITU, amongst others keeping us busy, as per usual! 🛀 time! ✅ @SCoRMembers

 

Sunday (4/4)

  • Tired only scratches the surface of how I feel 2day 😴 Let’s hope a large brew & 3 x Weetabix enable me to get to #MedShift 4/4 @SCoRMembers
  • Couple of knees ✅ couple of portable chests ✅ resus trolley checked ✅ #MedShift 4/4 well & truely underway! @SCoRMembers
  • 2 patients, 2 fractures. One the worst fracture I’ve ever seen, the other just a minor one. Shaping up to be a varied #MedShift @SCoRMembers
  • Back from theatre – 2 x MUAs ✅ Time to do the processing from the day’s theatre cases (x5) – #RealitiesOfTheJob #MedShift @SCoRMembers
  • Head-to-toe X-rays ✅ Portables ✅ Trauma Calls ✅ Theatre ✅ #MedShift complete! Now for some off duty days! 👍🎉🎈#OverAndOut @SCoRMembers

 

Monday (off-duty)

  • The ☀️ is shining, yet I still feel like I have a hangover – without the headache! Thankfully no #MedShift today! 😂 #shattered @SCoRMembers

 

The great thing about doing this is the interaction I get from my tweets, as well as me being able to share things about what it’s really like to be an allied health professional.

You certainly don’t learn this kind of stuff from a textbook!

I hope you enjoyed. Until the next time.

Ben 🙂

#TOTW (x26!) #MedShift

Ciao!

This week, after securing the relevant permissions form my boss and the communications people at work, I finally took the plunge and joined the increasing number of health professionals that are using #MedShift. I was a tad wary of using it to start with to be honest  – and still am, come to that – because of the obvious issues relating to confidentiality and such like. However, this week when I was on nights I decided to tentatively dip my toes in the #MedShift ocean and below I have collated the results:

Night 1 of 4

  • 1 of 4: Handover from day shift – no outstanding portables, equipment OK(ish) I’m on 2000-0800. Let’s do this! 🏥
  • Halfway through the and after a challenging trauma patient it’s now time for a break – and relax 👍 🏥
  • Urgent portable req. for ward pt. vs. need for a CXR on ITU – 1 radiographer available – solution? Call ITU & OK to wait ✅ 🏥
  • Trauma calls, portables throughout the hospital, usual A&E patients & just 1 minor issue to handover to day shift. Job done! ✅ 🏥
  • Home safe 🏠 ☺️ Shower, tea, toast, and some tele to unwind, thence ta bed for this ‘r 🏥 1 down, 3 to go! 👍 Night peops! 🌙💤

 

Night 2 of 4

  • Great start to 2 of 4 – left the imaging detector on a patient’s trolley and had to go retrieve it from A&E! Oops! 🏥

  • Back from another trauma call – car vs. pedestrian, no plain films required ✅ as patient going to CT for scan 👍 🏥
  • This is the time in a when you just want to be at home in bed 😕 Not long to go thankfully! ✅ 🏥
  • 🏠 sweet 🏠! 2 down & 2 to go! 👍 After the necessary ablution & food it will be time 4 the best part of a – BEDTIME! ✅ 🏥

 

Night 3 of 4

  • A splash of Issey Miyake and I’m good to go! 3 of 4 here I go! 🏥 (Other EDTs are available! 😂)
  • Off on my first portable of the shift – elderly male too unwell to come down to the department. Not uncommon on a 🏥
  • Another chest/abdo request! Prob the most common combination imaging request! Male, abdo pain, vomiting, obstruction, query perf 🏥
  • Back from another portable – this time an elderly lady with difficulty breathing & definitely too unwell to come down to dept 🏥
  • Into the “golden hour” – the final hour of the 👍✅ Soon be time for 🏠 & 💤💤💤 after this 🏥
  • When you get home & realise there are chunks of the journey you just don’t remember – not good 😔 Just 1 more to go ✅ 🏥

 

Night 4 of 4

  • The ‘Q’ word is something we don’t mention – a bit like the Scottish play 😂 🏥
  • Last & I’ve yet to do probably the 2nd most common combo of foot&ankle – most unusual! 🏥
  • Preparations for departure! 4 of 4 done! Hope you’ve enjoyed my first foray into ✅👍🎉😴 L8rs!!!hometime

So there you have it – a set of nights in a nutshell. Hopefully you’ve enjoyed taking a look at them to get a glimpse of what it’s like as a radiographer on nightshift. I’ll continue to use #MedShift as and when, but I don’t intend to tweet every shift, all shift! It’s more to give an insight into the work we do – as not everyone knows what a radiographer is and does 🙂

Hopefully newly qualified radiographers can also get an idea of what lies ahead when they start on shift!

Oh well, as ever, feedback always appreciated!

Ben 🙂

#UKRC2016

Hey, hey, hey!

Can you guess where i’ve been today then? Seeing as i’ve tweeted quite a few times throughout the day about it then i’m sure those that also follow me on Twitter will be well aware i’ve spent the day in Liverpool at the United Kingdom Radiological Congress, otherwise referred to as #UKRC2016:

http://www.ukrc.org.uk/

What a great day its been! From sitting down at 0810hrs to listen to speakers talk about the latest techniques and protocols in trauma radiology, to why and how we can improve the standing of the radiography profession through research. I thoroughly enjoyed the day looking at all the posters and attending the talks. There is just so much to learn and take back to my department! Below you will find all my tweets from today, and as the first one shows, the highlight of the day for me was meeting one of my fellow #SoMe type people @jstjohnmatthews, or Janice, as she is indeed more than just a Twitter handle now!

The whole day has just got me totally pumped up and enthusiastic about doing so many things. I’m realistic enough to know that I won’t get stuck into all of them, but at least I have no excuses as to not having things to be getting on with – now that i’ve completed my postgrad!

I just have to decide where to begin!

Enjoy!

Ben 🙂

Home after a great day ! Highlight has to be meeting up with ukrc_home

 

Last session of the day ‘Where’s the evidence – research…’ ukrc_lastsession

 

Here we go! Professional use of ukrc_SoMe

 

in ukrc_EI

 

Next up is ‘Education development & controversies’ to see talk about

Oh well, coffee on the go and off to in RM3B Anyone else going to this one?

Hi ho! hi ho! It’s off to I go! Hopefully to meet up with some of my fellow types!

#TOTW (x9) #CPDWeek

Ciao!

As has become customary following one of my theme weeks, this week’s #TOTW is a summary of all the tweets related to the theme – that being CPD, so here they all are:

I hope those of you actively involved in radiography have, and will continue to find this a useful resource for CPD 🙂

More theme weeks are planned for the coming months. Feedback appreciated – as always!

Enjoy!

Ben 🙂

 

#TOTW from 02-03-16 ‘How *NOT* to use #SoMe’

Evenin’ all!

For those of you that haven’t come across the term #SoMe before – those of you that haven’t been following my blog before now that is – then it’s short for #SocialMedia. So the title and topic of this week’s #TOTW is:

You’d think someone in his position would have a bit more sense…clearly not! How *NOT* to use

Now you would think, or at least hope that someone in this doctor’s position would have a bit more common sense and may be a bit more ‘media-savvy,’ however it would appear not to be the case! Of course if he has those beliefs and opinions then that’s fine, so long as he keeps them to himself. Given that he is a consultant in a position of responsibility, then this is clearly not acceptable behaviour and he should indeed receive at the very least a good ticking off from his professional body. I would also hope he be booked on a course to teach him how to use #SoMe responsibly!

For those of us in healthcare that choose to use #SoMe to keep in touch with fellow professionals it is important to remember that what we put out there is going into the public domain for anyone and everyone to see – regardless of how tightly you think you have your privacy settings locked down! It is worth looking up to see if your employer has a policy on #SoMe. If you work for the NHS then chances are they will have. Download it, read it, and take note! You, and you alone are responsible for what you put out there. If you are still unsure as to what you should or perhaps more importantly, shouldn’t be publishing via #SoMe, then there is plenty of material available online for you to #GoLearn!

And remember…#SoMe should and can be fun as well as using it for your continuing professional development!

That’s ya lot for this week folks!

Benjamin S.

 

2015 – my blogging year in review

Happy new year folks!

Apparently the busiest day of the year for visits to my blog was a year ago today with my post ‘A day in the life of a radiographer.’ Also my most commented on post was the one I wrote about #TipsForNewRads in relation to theatre work.

I will try and come up with some more original work this year to go with my weekly blogs!

Thanks for following, visiting, commenting or however it is you interact with me!

Stay tuned this year and let’s see what happens!

Ben

 

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 2,900 times in 2015. If it were a cable car, it would take about 48 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

#TOTW from 03-12-15 ‘Plain film: YES or NO?’

Ciao!

So then, another week and another Twitter poll is the topic of my #TOTW:

Does the term imaging devalue the work we do? I don’t think so

So, you can see the question – what do you think? The results of the poll – admittedly only 10 people – showed that 70% said NO, use of the term plain film did not devalue the work we do, with the remaining 30% feeling that it does. As I stated in the Twitter poll itself, I do not believe that referring to ‘plain film’ imaging devalues the work I do as a diagnostic radiographer. Yes, I agree it is outdated as we no longer use films in imaging, and OK, so maybe there’s nothing ‘plain’ about what we do, but it’s descriptive. People know what we are referring to when we use the term.

This years Annual Delegates Conference saw a motion to see a change to the use of the term. It begs the question, does it really matter? I know that I have spent 3 years at university and worked hard in order to be able to do what I do, and I am happy to use the ‘outdated’ term. It does what is says on the tin. OK, so maybe it is inaccurate, but I don’t at present see anything better out there to replace it with. For example, it has been suggested by some that ‘primary’ imaging would be better. However, ‘plain film‘ is not always the primary form of imaging these days, particularly in a trauma scenario when a patient more often that not takes a trip through a CT scanner before making their way to X-ray! Also I don’t feel that ‘primary’ imaging is descriptive enough as to the type of imaging that is taking place. Another of the alternatives suggested is that of ‘general‘ imaging. Now OK, so this is a term that I know is in use a bit more and when I was interviewed for my Band 6 position it was for ‘General and Trauma Imaging.’ However, the general bit still doesn’t really work for me either to be honest! I say if ain’t broke – don’t fix it! Until someone comes up with an obviously more descriptive and up-to-date term then I shall continue to use the term ‘plain film.’

What do you think? Answers in a comment to…

Ben 🙂

November’s #TOTM from 29/11 ‘Terms of endearment’

Hola!

The biggest response I had from tweets/posts this month was to do with the use of terms of endearment with patients, so the winner of November’s #TOTM award goes to…

from 24-11-15 ‘Terms of endearment’

No need for me to go over the same stuff here again, but suffice as to say i’ve been discussing this with colleagues since my original tweet and I haven’t changed how I interact with my patients! I would certainly be interested to do some research into this subject, but that will have to wait until the postgrad is finished next Spring!

For those of you that have already clicked on the link and read my original post, then thanks for popping by again! For those that are seeing it for the first time, then please feel free to drop me a line and give me your opinions and experiences!

Only one more #TOTM to go until my very first #TOTY!

Ben 🙂

#TOTW from 08-10-15 ‘Consent is not something to be regarded as optional – it is not’

Ciao!

“Hi, my name’s Ben. I’m one of the radiographers and i’ll be taking your X-rays today. Is that OK?”

That’s how I greet pretty much each and every one of my patients. It tells them who I am; what my role is; what i’ll be doing and most importantly of all, seeks their permission to proceed with the examination. Whether it’s “just” a chest X-ray or an examination that requires me to touch them in areas that most people would reasonably consider their personal space, gaining consent is an essential part of my role as a qualified health professional. It is not something I do because it’s nice, courteous and reasonable to do, but moreover it is required by the codes of conduct of The Society and College of Radiographers (SCoR) of which I am a member, and also the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) with whom I am registered as an allied healthcare professional.

The reason for me telling you all this, is because of the tweet I have chosen as my #TOTW:

is not something to be regarded as optional – it is not

If you’re interested to find out more, then take a look at the link and watch the short video to see what its all about. As I tell all the students that we teach, introducing yourself and gaining consent is a necessity, not just a nicety!

Until the next time…

Ben