Author: Christina Freeman, SCoR Professional Officer
How can I squeeze how I feel about retiring from this profession after 42 years into this 400 word blog?
Well, I could tell you how fabulous it has been and how I feel privileged to have worked with so many fantastic people over the years, but I think the time can be best spent with me telling you what I have learned over the years.
Firstly, no one is going to give us a break. We have to fight to be at the top table and to make our voice heard. We need to step up as the autonomous healthcare practitioners we are and start talking up our achievements and abilities.
We are not technicians nor are we handmaidens of the radiologists. We make our own decisions and take responsibility for our own actions.
We are healthcare professionals and as professionals we are self directed and independent.
Secondly, we have to respond to the challenges in a positive way and offer solutions. Moaning and griping is a waste of time and effort. When things don’t go our way we need to pick ourselves up and respond like grown ups.
We have to look for solutions beyond the silos in which we work and use the experience of others as examples of how we can behave and what we can achieve. Think and act as allied health professionals and work with others outside radiography to seek workable solutions.
Thirdly, take every opportunity to develop yourself. Take on new roles, seize any and every chance for professional development.
Offer to do the unpopular jobs, knock on doors and ask what you can do to help. Go to every study day and meeting that you can get to. Volunteer to do things that others don’t want to do and do it all with willingness and positivity (and a smile).
Finally, if what you are doing does not benefit the patient then you shouldn’t be doing it. If it doesn’t improve their experience or make the service better then it’s not the right thing.
Providing compassionate care and putting the patient at the centre of your practice is a minimum requirement. Treating patients with the respect and dignity they deserve is paramount.
So now, after 42 years as a clinical diagnostic radiographer, teacher and professional officer, I am bowing out and looking forward to the next stage of my life.
I wish you all the very best of luck for the future.
Thank you for being such great colleagues and friends over the years. I will miss you.