Andy Dowden, 26 June 2017
Originally from Iraq, I came to the UK in June 2007 after going through multiple traumatic events which prevented me from completing my secondary school education. My biggest mission when I first arrived was to learn the language from scratch before starting my education journey again. I have always known that I wanted to work in healthcare but was not sure which job was best for me and because of the limited English I had, I thought it was impossible for me to work in this field.
Therefore, I studied IT for two years whilst at the same time working hard to improve my English then decided to change my education route and applied for an Access course to get me into university. After reading about the different health careers available and gaining work experience in radiography in multiple hospitals, I had come to conclusion that radiography is the right career for me.
In September 2013, I started my degree at the University of Cumbria studying BSc (Hons) Diagnostic Radiography, with my hard work and dedication I have managed to complete my degree successfully and become a Radiographer. During my time at the university, I had a few favourite experiences including being a student ambassador, which has been one of the best highlights and one that I will always remember, as it helped strengthen my communication and presentation skills, organisational as well as team working skills. I have also been a successful Student Representative for my cohort. Whilst I was at the university, I attended multiple student conferences including: SoR Annual Student Conference and GCU Inter-University Radiography Conference. I have also attended few internal and external CPD activities in Image Interpretation, Spine Imaging and Surgery Planning, CT Head Scanning and Interpretation, and Mentor Training Course.
I am currently working at Sunderland Royal Hospital as a Radiographer since August 2016. One month later, I was nominated to be one of the Union Learning Representatives in my department and since then we have been running some very successful in-house CPD activities such as talks and practical sessions about facial bones (techniques and image interpretation); CT Heads – Indications for scanning and pathology; Moyamoya disease and cerebral angiography; Basic Interpretation of the Chest X-ray; Shoulder imaging and modified techniques; elfh Image Interpretation programme; and An introduction to CPD Now. We use elfh sessions to support our CPD programme by identifying sessions that staff can complete prior to the timetabled CPD learning session. This is to enrich the learning further. Following the CPD sessions we support staff to reflect on their learning and how it will impact on their practice.
In the future, I am hoping to specialise in plain-film reporting whilst at the same time mentoring students and promoting learning across the department.
Laith Hasan,
Radiographer and SoR Union Learning Representative,
City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust.
Comments are closed.