Real Life Stories

Kath Walker is a Physiotherapist working with the NHS.

Question 1: How did you become a medical professional? (We’re you inspired by a family member? Childhood dream? Etc)

I sustained a back injury as a teenage athlete which required me to have spinal surgery. Following my operation I was rehabilitated by the Physiotherapy team in Children’s Outpatients. This experience age 13 encouraged me to look into a career as a Physiotherapist.

Question 2: What element of your role do you most enjoy?

I enjoy the clinical reasoning aspect of my work. I enjoy working out the potential structure of the body that could be at fault and finding the possible solutions to these problems. I love helping people to return to the activities that they enjoy.

Question 3: What element of your role do you least enjoy /or what element was a surprise to you?

As a Physiotherapist in Outpatients there comes a point with some clients that you have to admit that Physiotherapy isn’t appropriate or that Physiotherapy treatment is not going to solve their particular problems. It is a frustrating part of being a Physiotherapist but a vital skill to learn when to refer on.

Question 4: Knowing what you do now, if you could go back and start again would you still choose to work in the medical profession? (Please give a reason for your answer)

If I could go back I would definitely go into Physiotherapy but maybe I would not have stayed in the current organisation I work for as long as I have. I would have liked to have gained more experience in the private sector. 

Question 5: If you could give your past self some words of wisdom, what would you say?

Go for the master’s degree in the subject that you wanted to do, listen more to yourself and less to the opinions of colleagues in your self development.

                                                                      

Kath Hill is a Radiographer within the NHS and has been in the profession since 1987.

I started my training as a radiographer in 1987. I never really made a conscious decision that I wanted to work in health care but, having found myself back home after a year of college that wasn’t for me, I was casting around for something that suited me rather better.

My mum found a tiny advert in the local paper. ‘Are you practically minded, kind and caring? Do you want to do a job that is interesting and varied?’ Well…yes! I phoned the number, thinking I had no chance. I was in luck! Interviews were that week and could I come in tomorrow?

I saw the advert on Thursday, had an interview on Friday and started on Monday.

I’ll be honest, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Until I was given the guided tour on that Friday, I had never even set foot in an x-ray department. But something about it felt right. And I guess that despite my lack of suitable qualifications my Principal saw something in me too.

Training was an adventure. Every day something new, scary, gory, fascinating, technically demanding came along  (and no, that wasn’t just my social life).  We spent blocks of 4 weeks in school and 6 weeks in the hospital getting very hands on experience where we learned that mostly people are nothing like the diagram in the book.

Some of the trained staff were very good at sharing their technique and handy hints, others clearly regarded us as an inconvenience. There were times when I felt I’d never be able to cope with such a wide range of examinations, with so many people teaching me things in many different ways. But I got there. And, despite the fact that the qualification has now been elevated to a BSc, I am very proud to have been one of the last batch of Diploma students.

After qualifying, I got my first job in 1990, in a largish DGH near Cardiff. And that was when I really learned to be a radiographer. I got to assess my own films, I got to run lists in the screening rooms and best of all, I got to work nights. Night is when you really learn what it is all about. We used to work single handed after 6 pm and we had to do anything and everything that came to us. Night is when you learn to cope. Urgent CT head scan on a patient from ITU? Sure. Mobile x-ray on a tiny premature baby in NICU? Be right there. Chest x-ray on a patient in Emergency Admissions – what - another one? Dynamic hip screw in theatre? Let me just find the keys to the machine… Oh yes and we’re on surgical take tonight so abdomen x-rays all round please! It was emotionally demanding,  exhausting and terrifying but brilliant. And I never want to work another night shift again.

Radiography has moved on in many ways, both technically and professionally. I’m no longer ‘just’ a handmaiden for the radiologists. I’m a member of the specialist fluoroscopy (screening) team and we perform lots of the day to day examinations without a radiologist present in the room. This is fantastic as it allows us to stretch ourselves and gives the radiologists more time for reporting or to devote to other specialities.

'Lots of the examinations I do are of an embarrassing, intimate nature and, strangely some might say, the most rewarding.  The comment I get most from patients is ‘I couldn’t do your job!’ and I can respond to them,  with complete honesty,  that  I like my job! I get to meet interesting people and take great pleasure in helping them to get the diagnosis they need to be able to sort out their problem.'

There’s a huge personal reward in helping somebody through a test they never though they’d be able to do, whilst letting them retain whatever dignity is possible and obtaining a great set of pictures.  I always feel it is a huge privilege to be allowed to breach somebody’s personal space and have them happily comply with the needs of the test. The next most frequent comment I get is ‘That wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.’ I think that’s probably the ultimate compliment.

I think mostly because I have been around for a while, I don’t look busy enough and I have a vague idea of how things work, I have also acquired a swathe of admin tasks. I don’t mind doing them too much because if not me, then who else? What I do mind is the pressure that comes with them. Appointments that have to be fitted in to comply with waiting time targets, staff rotas that have to be done with not enough staff, liaison with other departments to pull off interdisciplinary events when they are also short of staff – it all takes its toll on the nerves and makes the job we do seem like a thankless task at times.

I love that I never stop learning. Every day in the job is learning how to do something differently, how to do it better, understanding a new condition,  how to use new equipment, how to do it with less risk to the patient  - yes risk. People forget that x-rays are dangerous. That’s why we can’t just dish them out on demand. The manual of regulations is enormous! Many of the interventional procedures we do carry serious risks too and we have to be prepared to act fast in an emergency and several of us are ILS trained in addition to the mandatory Basic Life Support training.

I’m looking forward to more advances in the field of digital fluoroscopic imaging. Our newest machine is capable of taking CT style ‘slices’ as well as rendering images in jaw- droppingly  amazing  3D . These abilities have opened up new treatment possibilities and a whole world of excitement. I can’t wait to see what’s next!

'If you’re thinking of radiography as a career, I’d have to say you have to be a certain type of person. At least if you want to do it well, rather than just do it. You need to be assertive enough to be able to say no, but willing to give things a try. You need to be able to think fast, prioritise and adapt. You need to be inexhaustible and most of all I think you need to be compassionate. A thick skin and a second pair of hands wouldn’t go amiss either.'

I wish somebody had told me just how physically demanding the job can be. Even more so emotionally. We get to see patients at their absolute lowest and most vulnerable and they all have a story and a family and reason to get better. Some people are a lot better at emotional detachment than I am.

I also wish somebody had told me that I would meet some unforgettable characters, find myself in weird situations that I definitely didn’t sign up for and work with such an amazing bunch of colleagues.