Don’t fear the theatre? Newly-qualified radiographers’ tales of conflict and camaraderie

Sloane, Charles ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5343-7626 , Miller, Paul K. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5611-1354 , De Witt, Julie, Hoelterhoff, Mark and Marland, Amanda (2020) Don’t fear the theatre? Newly-qualified radiographers’ tales of conflict and camaraderie. In: United Kingdom Imaging and Oncology Congress: Pathways and Communication (UKIO 2020), 1-3 June 2020, Liverpool ACC, UK. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

Background: The rapidly changing landscape of healthcare provision in the UK has left many medical imaging curricula struggling to fully equip their graduates for immersion in clinical practice upon qualification (Sloane and Miller, 2017). The national study from which the findings reported below are drawn aimed to explore the practical experiences of recently-qualified diagnostic radiographers, with a view to highlighting how well-prepared they had found themselves to be in professional contexts. A key emergent concern related to working in operating theatres.

Methods: Extended semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with N=20 radiographers (f=13, m=7) working at sites across the UK. All had graduated a maximum of two years previously. Transcribed data were investigated using the techniques of Straussian Grounded Theory (Waring et al., 2018).

Results: Theatre-related experience addressed four core key participant concerns. (1) A lack of academic and placement-based preparation regarding “what to expect” in theatre, both of which brought into sharper relief: (2) A sense of unpreparedness for the technical expectations of a radiographer in theatre, and (3) the often highly pressurised - and sometimes inferably hostile - interpersonal environment therein. The latter, however, was to some extent offset by (4) a reported strong sense of camaraderie and support among radiographers themselves, and particularly immediate peers, around theatre work.

Conclusion: These findings confirm and develop upon a number of concerns raised by Naylor and Foulkes (2018) regarding student radiographers’ readiness for the technical and social demands of theatre, and underscore a possible shortfall in current curricula and placement structures.

References:
1. Naylor S and Foulkes D (2018) Diagnostic radiographers working in the operating theatre: An action research project. Radiography 24(1): 9-14.
2. Sloane C and Miller PK (2017) Informing radiography curriculum development: The views of UK radiology service managers concerning the 'fitness for purpose' of recent diagnostic radiography graduates. Radiography 23(1s): 16-22.
3. Waring L, Miller PK, Sloane C and Bolton GC (2018) Charting the practical dimensions of understaffing from a managerial perspective: the everyday shape of the UK's sonographer shortage. Ultrasound 26(4): 206-213

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Poster)
Departments:	Institute of Health > Medical Sciences Social Issues in Medical Imaging (SIMI)
Additional Information:	Poster presentation P129.
Depositing User:	Paul Miller
Date Deposited:	24 Apr 2020 14:03
Last Modified:	01 Apr 2025 08:00
URI:	https://insight.cumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/5526

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