Revealed: the global impact of Covid-19 on radiographers

Researcher calls for standardised wellbeing care for all radiographers

Published: 26 November 2021 Wellbeing

The winner of a prestigious radiography research award has called for standard international protocols in radiography practice to ensure safe clinical practice and wellbeing management during pandemic responses.

Theophilus Akudjedu is the lead author of a systematic literature review examining the global impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on clinical radiography practice.

The paper, which was the Radiography journal’s Editors’ Choice 2021, investigated the pressures facing radiography departments as key teams in the treatment of Covid-19 across the globe.

‘We realised that UK radiographers were complaining about extra pressures, PPE shortages and so on, so we conducted a survey of them and then we replicated that in Ghana, Australia and the MIddle East’, Dr Akudjedu told Synergy News.

The researchers found that radiographers faced similar challenges, including workplace- related stress, anxiety and fear of infection, and decided to look at the issue from a global perspective, explained
Dr Akudjedu, senior lecturer in imaging and MRI radiography at Bournemouth University.

He said the findings show a clear need to address the pressures placed on radiographers during any future pandemic response and to provide comprehensive training in risk management.

‘In the initial phase of the pandemic, most radiographers had not received adequate Covid-19 training. In the west, they have now received some training but in developing countries they have not received that amount of training.’

He said equipment shortages in developing countries made dedicated pandemic response teams difficult to establish.

Charlotte Beardmore, SCoR executive director of professional policy, congratulated Dr Akudjedu and said: ‘This paper is important in supporting our work applying the learning to radiographic practice in the UK and across
the world, which is essential to continually support high-quality care for patients with the goal of improving patient outcomes.’

Reference: The global impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on clinical radiography practice: a systematic literature review and recommendations for future services planning. Radiography 2021; 27(4).