Therapeutic Rad Techs

A therapeutic radiologic technologist would treat patients, would give them radiotherapy treatment, will set them up in the room, will assess how they are, assess their well being and make sure they are managing their side effects effectively.

We deal with a variety of different patients in a variety of different levels so that’s diagnostic images to help in a patients pathway or their management, how can we help them, it’s about eighty nine percent of all patients that attained a hospital that can be from A and E or the way to a perform X-ray on the ward or even going to theatre or as much as ultrasound for your first baby or your natal scans.

We treat all different types of cancers ranging from head and neck cancers to a thorax to the pelvis. Five main modalities, that’s general X-ray where we do our basic X-rays, our chest X-rays, our wrist X-rays, those things when you fall of the climbing frames and then we have got our more advanced modalities which are our CT, which are our cross sectional and then we have also got MR, which is Magnetic Resonance imaging and we have also got ultrasound and some nuclear medicine. We get to know our patients very well in the radiography department, we get to see them for a whole week and some other patients, we get to see for seven and a half weeks so we really get to know them and we build a nice rapport with them and we build a relationship with them so that’s one of the perks of the job definitely.

You can be on a management pathway for an abdominal cancer and you may have a cancer with six, twelve and eighteen to monitor the size and how the treatment is going. It’s upsetting at times, you want to be supporting them and helping them through their journey so that’s what patient care is about and interacting with them and helping them when they need it.

There are many qualities that make a radiology technician as well as having the educational background, it’s also having the personal skills, one into working in a team then there is the aspect of the physics inside of stuff as well, knowing and then there is your biology so you have got anatomy, physiology and pathology, you have got your physics side, how does the radiation work, then there is also, you are not an individual, you are a team, you may work in MRI with a nurse, two other radiologic technologists and then you have got the patients, you need to have your personal skills, your communication.

If you want to become a radiology technician, the characteristics that you need in terms of patient care is to be kind, considerate and be a good listener and be very empathetic and we are a working team so you need to be a team player, you need to be proficient and hardworking and looking to learn. The thing I most enjoy about radiotherapy is the patient interaction, the patient care and supporting them, I really enjoy that.

I think you have to have an academic aspect and a practical aspect because that’s what the job is, it’s not just all about press a button, I can scan, you need to be able to sit and talk to your patient. Three words to describe radiotherapy would be rewarding with all the patient interaction and it’s very dynamic and it’s very technical. The future of radiologic technologists is actually bright because of the advanced practice and I think we will become relied on more.