So you’ve chosen a career in healthcare and to specialise in Radiography, what next? Radiography can be immediately split into two variations; diagnostic radiography, which deals with diagnostics through imagery, and therapeutic radiography which focuses on the treatment of patients with cancer. Which ever path you decide to go down, good interpersonal skills will be essential, as for both types you will need to care for, support and empathise with your patients as well as be able to work effectively with a team. This is an obvious choice of career for smart and extremely caring people who re driven by helping others, not to mention a healthcare career is probably one of the most secure roles out there.
Initial Training
Before picking out Radiography as your future career, you would probably have already completed a fair amount of healthcare study to reach this conclusion. Otherwise, you have a strong motive, or you simply decided that your ideal job would be one where you get to work closely with both innovative and lifesaving technologies, and a range of people, be it your patients, or your medical team.
Either way, you’ll be needing a degree, and your next big decision is choosing which discipline you prefer. Both university and hospital open days could help you reach this conclusion. Studying is one thing, but to get a feel of what working in either of these disciplines is like, try contacting your local hospital and experiencing these departments first hand. This step is advisable before committing to study in either area.
Be at the Top of your Game
Throughout your study and your future career you will be presented with many opportunities to improve yourself and keep learning. Never pass up an opportunity to learn or specialise in a new skill as it could open doors you hadn’t previously considered, or qualify you for something that comes up in the future that you didn’t know you wanted to pursue. Always giving your best will likely provide you with better options in the future.
What is Available to you?
If you followed all the advice, you’ll have range of exciting career developments open to you, whether you’re a radiologist or radiotherapist. Radiography job options depend on your chosen discipline. While radiotherapist are fairly limited to radiotherapy, this role will still be varied as you work with a team to tailor treatment to each patient, and there is room for specialisation. Additionally, as with radiologists, they may become involved with research, education and administration. Radiologist have even more room for specialisation, from radiology, ultrasound , X-ray and MRI technicians, CT scan technologists, cardiac laboratories, mammography, nuclear medicine and more.
Rising through either career path could lead to speaking at conferences, publishing research, winning awards or earning recognised positions in the Society of Radiography. Your journey through this career is bound to be varied and you’re likely to develop skills in many areas, some even transferable. It could be hard work and emotionally challenging, but it may also be full of rewards.
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