Radiography
Both diagnostic and therapeutic radiographers provide essential services to millions of people. Without them, modern healthcare would collapse.
Without detailed images of what is happening inside the body, treatments would not be as effective, or valuable time may be lost.
Six out of ten patients who receive radiotherapy treatment for cancer are cured. A therapy radiographer and the oncology team give cancer patients hope and a second chance.
British radiographers are recognised as being among the best in the world. Many foreign countries recruit from the UK. A radiography degree is a passport to a job - typically with radiography students paying no tuition fees, with the possibility of qualifying for an NHS bursary.
The entry requirements for a BSc degree course in either diagnostic or therapeutic radiography are decided on an individual basis. There are a variety of entry options including Advanced Level GCSE and equivalents, vocational qualifications, occupational routes, and accreditation of previous experienced-based learning.
St Mary’s Hospital has a newly opened dedicated acute imaging centre containing Europe’s first GE V750 3T MRI system and a 256-slice CT scanner. The centre also provides high specification ultrasound, allowing access to all three complementary modalities in one fully staffed location.
The centre is designed to provide early access to cutting-edge cross-sectional imaging for acute, trauma and critical care patients. The centre will increase the proportion of patients having rapid access to sophisticated cross-sectional imaging, including general trauma imaging, vascular imaging, including assessment of cerebral vessels, peripheral arteries and coronary arteries, as well as brain and solid organ perfusion.
For more information on careers in radiography, you can contact the College of Radiographers at:
207 Providence Square,
Mill Street,
London SE1 2EW
Telephone: 020 7740 7200
Email:info@sor.org
Website: www.sor.org
Pharmacy
At Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust we support placements for the undergraduate pharmacy students at a number of universities, including School of Pharmacy, University of London, Kings College and Kingston University.
Undergraduate pharmacy placements typically last a week with students working in pairs to achieve some clinical objectives through ward based work. The tasks are set by the higher education institution involved and typically include activities such as reviewing a patient and learning about the therapeutics and pharmaceutical aspects of their care, carrying out drug history taking plus patient counselling.
All interactions with patients are supervised by qualified pharmacists to ensure the interaction with the patient is beneficial to the student. The Trust also provides some teaching to students at the school of pharmacy and University of London for subject areas such as microbiology and some students also undertake project work in the pharmacy department as part of their course.
If you are a pharmacy student, you can find out more about pre-registration training opportunities in NHS hospitals by visiting the NHS pharmacy training website.
Therapy
Therapy services including:
• Dietetics
• Physiotherapy
• Occupational Therapy
• Speech and Language Therapy
All therapy departments are involved in the practical training of undergraduate therapists; providing clinical placements for students at various stages in their academic training programme. In this way, we contribute significantly to the clinical training of future therapy professionals in the UK.
The Nutrition and Dietetics Research Group provides input into several Imperial College London courses for qualified doctors and undergraduate medical students:
The nutrition module of the science and the patient course for the undergraduate medicine degree
This module gives an overview of the role of nutrition and dietetic intervention throughout the human life cycle. The lectures provide a sound grounding in clinic nutrition that can be drawn upon in clinical practice, for example, the lectures on obesity or nutrition and the elderly.
The course closely integrates with other elements of the medicine course such as endocrinology and epidemiology.
• Prof. Gary Frost and Dr Mary Hickson represent the College on the Intercollegiate Group on Nutrition (ICGN). The group has recently developed an outline for nutrition teaching within the undergraduate medical curriculum. The group are continuing to develop this curriculum to provide greater detail on learning outcome and create a supporting e-learning structure.
• BSc in Medical Sciences with Gastroenterology and Hepatology with several lectures on nutrition. Topics include obesity and lifestyle management, principles of nutritional support, diet in pregnancy and lactation, nutrition and ageing.
• Training in nutrition for Specialist Registrars in Metabolic Medicine and Chemical Pathology
The dieticians run a series of sessions that aim to increase knowledge and practical application of clinical nutrition. The courses are accredited by the Royal College of Pathologists and over a two-year period meet the nutritional training needs for these professions. The topic areas include malnutrition, artificial feeding, obesity, heart disease and diabetes.
Occupational therapy and physiotherapy staff support the College’s undergraduate rehabilitation module
Students have an introduction to rehabilitation philosophy and this is followed up by tutorials on the role of the physiotherapist, occupational therapist, speech and language therapist, dietician, nurse and doctor. There are opportunities to spend time with patients and observe therapy. In 2011, a new e-learning module on rehabilitation will be completed.
All therapy departments provide on-going opportunities for staff to develop skills and acquire new ones. These include:
• In-service training given by our senior clinical experts in relevant topics to unidisciplinary and multi-disciplinary staff groups
• Regular journal clubs to ensure staff remain up-to-date with current literature and practice critical appraisal skills. Where appropriate, staff change their practice in line to the latest evidence, which ensures the service we provide to patients is the best possible
• Specific training, for example: SIMBaby (TM) training for on-call physiotherapists in treating emergency paediatric cases. The infant simulator provides opportunities for staff to experience and respond to critical care situations when treatment does not go as planned and the infant destabilises significantly
New e-learning packages are being developed in rehabilitation for undergraduate medical students and critical appraisal for healthcare professionals.
The Nutrition and Dietetics Research Group are contributing three modules to the national e-learning package for foundation year doctors. These include Introduction to Nutrition and Health; Nutrition Assessment; and Nutrition Support and The Ethics of Feeding.