The author of this paper gives an overview about the evolution of radiography education in Portugal and reflects about the importance of Radiographer-led research, especially in the field of ...radiation protection and its impact in clinical practice.
It also pinpoints several aspects that contribute to the visibility and recognition of the role of radiographer both at national and European level, where the importance of the European Federation of Radiographers Societies is crucial.
Radiographer led research is necessary and fundamental to develop the radiography profession field ok knowledge and to provide evidence to sustain the implementation and adoption of new clinical practices.
Evidence shows that Radiographer-led research in the field of Radiation Protection contributes significantly to decrease patient and staff exposure to ionizing radiation, while maintaining the quality of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures.
The recent validation of three Diagnostic Radiography programmes in the south of England involved a rigorous approval process with multiple Professional and Statutory Regulatory Bodies (PSRB's). Part ...of the validation process was evidencing that approximately 50% of each programme is spent undertaking practice-based learning. As well as clinical placements, practice-based learning includes simulation-based education (SBE).
From May 2022 to June 2022, a questionnaire was sent to all 22 simulation education facilitators from health courses belonging to the University School Simulation Group. Ethical approval was reviewed and approved by the Learning and Teaching Hub Research Ethics Panel.
Of the initial 22 participants invited, the response rate was 59% (13 participants). The main themes arising from the analysis was the use of a theoretical or conceptual framework, a breakdown of the simulation session components and the role of simulation training.
This questionnaire study demonstrated that there was a need for a standardised guide on how to deliver SBE. There is also a lack of feedback, training, and reassurance for facilitators. However, facilitators would welcome training or further training and HEE and the University have taken steps to prioritise SBE.
The study highlighted how health professionals are delivering SBE within their subjects in innovative and creative ways. These ideas have helped to structure SBE within the new diagnostic radiography courses at the University.
In 2020, the Medical Radiation Practice Board of Australia made several revisions to its professional capabilities. To address this, medical radiation practitioners, including diagnostic ...radiographers, are required to escalate urgent findings in all radiographic settings. However, the confidence of radiographers in articulating descriptions of radiographic findings varies despite this requirement. This cross-sectional study explores how the implementation of eportfolio affects student self-perceived confidence in identifying and describing radiographic findings in both an academic and a clinical setting.
A Qualtrics survey was distributed to second-year radiography students who had used eportfolios. The survey comprised of four questions using a Likert-scale and one open-ended question. Quantitative data were analysed using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test and qualitative data was thematically assessed.
Overall, 55 of 65 radiographic students (85%) completed the survey. Confidence (strongly agree and agree) decreased from 89% to 74% between academic and clinical environments when identifying abnormalities, and 89% to 73% when describing findings. This finding highlights the challenges students face when in the clinical environment. Wilcoxon signed rank test analysed a statistically significant relation between the two environments (P < 0.05). However, the relationship between identifying and describing skills was not statistically significant (P > 0.05). Following a review of the qualitative data, three recurring themes were identified among responses.
ePortfolios assist in improving confidence in identification and description of radiographic abnormalities, particularly in an academic setting. The clinical environment presents unique challenges which may limit student clinical performance; however, this requires further investigation.
In health professions education (HPE), focus is placed on developing clinically competent practitioners who can function within their professional scope in a broad range of health care contexts. In ...this study, the authors investigated diagnostic radiography lecturers’ understanding of how students become socially responsive. The concept of ‘critical consciousness’ was explored as an intervention of being a transformer in the local environment. This places focus on learning and teaching that aims to develop radiography graduates who are critically conscious, such that they can take up the challenges of healthcare in their environment, in addition to being clinically competent in their field. The study under discussion therefore sought to find out how radiography lecturers understand a socially responsive curriculum at a University of Technology in the South African context.
A qualitative, exploratory design was used where curriculum documents were reviewed and from which stimulus points were identified for a semi-structured focus group interview with radiography lecturers followed by five individual interviews. All interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, coded and analysed through a process of thematic analysis.
Four dominant themes emerged from the analysis, namely i) diverse understandings of critical consciousness, ii) becoming a reflective practitioner, iii) a need for curriculum transformation and iv) emerging pedagogies.
Critical reflection by both the radiography students and lecturers is key to developing social awareness and critical consciousness which could drive critical motivation and critical action to effect social change. It is recommended that the current curriculum should be reviewed and transformed to include constructive reflective practice.
Dedicated time should be scheduled, in the curriculum, to allow students and lecturers to engage in meaningful constructive reflection to enhance socially responsive practice.
Radiography education is pivotal in training skilled radiographers for diagnostic imaging and therapeutic applications. With technological advancements, interest in innovative educational tools to ...enhance traditional teaching methods is growing. This discussion paper explores the possibility of the integration of ChatGPT, a cutting-edge conversational AI language model, into radiography education.
We report that ChatGPT offers interactive learning opportunities that can facilitate learning. It also provides self-paced learning, revision platforms, and supports educators in scenario creation, assessment development, group collaboration, and professional and research activities. Despite these benefits, it is important to carefully consider issues related to academic integrity and privacy, along with the opportunities and challenges presented by this new technology in radiography education.
This paper highlights some of the prospects and limitations of the potential applications of ChatGPT in radiography education, underscoring the benefits for both students and educators. However, its implementation must be considered thoughtfully and ethically, taking into account its strengths and limitations.
Integrating ChatGPT in radiography education has the potential to improve radiography education by improving digital literacy and graduate outcomes of students while streamlining the preparation process for educators. However, ethical implementation is vital for optimal outcomes.
The quality of clinical learning environments (CLEs) impact learners' experience and competence development. Objective instruments have been developed to evaluate CLEs from the perspective of medical ...and nursing students. No such instruments have been used in Radiography.
Radiography students' perspectives of CLEs were investigated using the validated Undergraduate Clinical Education Environment Measure (UCEEM). Undergraduate (UG) (n = 365) and graduate entry (GE) radiography students (n = 45) from an Irish university were invited to participate. CLEs consisted of 25 public and 10 private hospitals. The UCEEM contains 25 items under two overarching dimensions, experiential learning and social participation, with four subscales: opportunities to learn in and through work and quality of supervision; preparedness for student entry; workplace interaction patterns and student inclusion; and equal treatment.
Two hundred and fifteen students participated (response rate 52.4%; n = 185 UG, n = 30 GE), most of whom were based in public hospitals (87.4%). The mean UCEEM score was 107.5 ± 17.7 (optimal range: 90–125). Experiential learning and social participation were scored 74.2 ± 12.5 (optimal range: 60–85) and 33.37 ± 6.29 (optimal range: 30–40), respectively. Private hospitals ranked slightly higher than public hospitals for ‘opportunities to learn in and through work and quality of supervision’ (p = 0.018). Items ranked highest related to ‘equal treatment’ and ‘opportunity to put theory into practice’. Clinical supervision-related items were scored highest by first-year students.
High UCEEM scores indicate radiography students' positive perceptions of their CLEs, particularly regarding equality and experiential learning. Findings support the expansion of radiography placement to include public and private hospitals.
The UCEEM is a theoretically robust, validated tool which appears suitable for evaluating radiography CLEs. This study provides valuable baseline data for comparison of Radiography CLEs.
Radiographers extend their roles through formal and on-the-job training to keep up with clinical practice changes. One area of role extension that is now incorporated into undergraduate programmes is ...image interpretation, although the training provided may vary between institutions. This study explored the experiences of graduates from one higher education institution in a low-resource context with regard to their image interpretation training.
A qualitative phenomenological research design was employed to investigate the experiences of ten radiography graduates who were purposively selected from one higher education institution. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with each participant after obtaining their informed consent. The interview recordings were transcribed and analysed using Atlas.ti Windows (Version 9.0) software, following Colaizzi's seven-steps of data analysis.
From the ten interviews conducted, teaching approach, clinical education, and assessment strategy emerged as areas of experience within the teaching and learning theme, while practitioner role modelling, skill utilisation, and industry impact were sub-themes under the paradoxical reality theme. The participants' experiences indicated a theory-practice gap in image interpretation among radiographers.
The participants' experiences reflected a misalignment in the educational process due to inadequacies in the teaching approach, clinical education, and assessment strategies. Participants encountered significant differences between their expectations and clinical realities during and after training. Image interpretation by radiographers was recognised as a relevant area for role extension in this low-resource setting.
While these findings are specific to the experiences of the participants, conducting similar research in comparable contexts and implementing competency-based image interpretation assessments could help identify gaps and guide interventions to address shortcomings.
Clinical placement is an essential aspect of student radiographers' training. The Covid-19 pandemic proved challenging for diagnostic radiography students disrupting clinical placements. This study ...aims to explore the impact of Covid-19 on first and second year student diagnostic radiographers’ in clinical practice during the Covid-19 lockdown periods and Covid-19 waves in England.
A cross-sectional online survey was used to attain quantitative attitudinal 5-point Likert and qualitative free-text response data. Descriptive and inferential statistics data analysis applied the Mann–Whitney U test and Kruskal–Wallis H test. The qualitative data were thematically coded and analysed for patterns of reoccurring themes.
There were n = 85 responses from n = 9 different counties within England. Students reported missing between n = 1–14 weeks of placement. There was a lack of (41%; n = 35) or limited radiography staff (21%; n = 18) in the clinical departments and a lack of a range of X-ray examinations available (67%; n = 57) during the Covid-19 lockdowns, which affected completing practice assessments. Negative effects included stress, anxiety and worry (68%; n = 58); positive effects included team working (16.4%; n = 14), learning to work under pressure (12.9%; n = 11), and preparation for qualifying (8.2%; n = 7).
This study identified that students needed more support in this critical aspect of their training. There were both positive and negative responses; notably, the results highlight how the Covid-19 lockdowns have strained the National Health Service (NHS) and adversely affected radiography students.
The findings underscore the need for university educators and student liaison radiographers within hospitals to have an awareness of the mental health and practical learning needs of the students they are instructing post-Covid-19 lockdown.
The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted healthcare services and the clinical learning environment. Several studies have investigated radiography students' experiences of clinical placement ...during the pandemic; however, few have investigated the Clinical Practice Educator's (CPEs) perspective. CPEs play a pivotal role in supporting clinical education.
A qualitative study was conducted using a purposeful sample of twenty-two CPEs, each working in a different Irish hospital. Four semi-structured focus groups were used to gather data. To maintain reasonable homogeneity, CPEs who were new to the role (n = 8) were assigned a separate focus group from experienced CPEs (n = 14). Inductive thematic analysis was applied.
CPEs experienced role expansion, particularly in managerial and administrative aspects of the role. They described arranging COVID-19 vaccinations locally for radiography students and the complexities of student rostering during the pandemic. CPEs perceived the pandemic to have impacted students' emotional wellbeing with ‘high anxiety levels’ and ‘loneliness’ being reported. They also perceived issues with clinical readiness and the student transition to clinical practice. Many challenges were faced by CPEs including arranging clinical recovery time for numerous students when sites were already at full capacity, fewer learning opportunities due to decreased patient throughput and range of imaging examinations, social distancing constraints, resistance from staff to student placements, and a shortage of staff for student supervision. Flexibility, communication, and multi-level support helped CPEs to fulfil their role.
The results provide insight into how CPEs supported radiography clinical placements during the pandemic and into the challenges faced by CPEs in their role. CPEs supported student placement through multi-level communication, teamwork, flexibility, and student advocacy.
This will aid understanding of the support mechanisms needed by CPEs to provide quality clinical placements.
Diagnostic radiography education research is often aimed at developing new academic theory or pedagogy to instil evidence-based practice and bridge the theory-practice gap. However, there has been ...little empirical research of how knowledge is created and shared in the clinical learning environment. This paper offers a new perspective on professional knowledge sharing in radiography education through the theory of clinical mindlines.
Scrutinising clinical mindlines theory against current radiography education literature highlights issues with our conceptualisation of knowledge, and gaps in our understanding of how professional knowledge is created, shared, and accessed in radiography education. Empirical research exploring these factors, particularly in the clinical learning environment is largely absent from the current literature.
Discourse on knowledge sharing in radiography education has historically been dictated by pedagogical theory and established within an academic setting. Using the clinical mindlines theory offers terminology and a framework which is rooted in clinical and organisational contexts, allowing us to study clinical learning and education more effectively.
Clinical mindlines have been effectively used across the healthcare landscape to understand and improve the movement of knowledge across boundaries. Radiography educators and researchers can use this new perspective to recognise the processes which aid knowledge sharing between diverse stakeholder groups. Radiographers and students can use this concept to reflect on their teaching and learning in practice to identify moments for more effective knowledge sharing.
