"I graduated with an MSc in Palaeoanthropology from the University of Sheffield in January 2011. This has led to quite an unusual career for an Arts and Humanities Graduate. I am currently finishing a PgDip in Radiotherapy and Oncology and am due to start my first qualified post as a Therapeutic Radiographer in September 2014. My current placement work and future job role involves delivering high energy x-rays to treat cancer patients. This can be curative or for palliation/symptom relief. My skills in human osteology and anatomy gained in my former degree aid in the planning and delivery of treatment.
Staff and students must keep up to date with recent developments in the fields of radiotherapy and oncology. Continual Professional Development (CPD) is now an absolute requirement of maintaining Health and Social Care Professions Council (HCPC) registration. To do this I utilise the research skills learnt in my degree at Sheffield. This includes the use of search engines such as ScienceDirect and Medline to perform literature searches. The hospital library is a useful point for accessing knowledge both from medical textbooks and journal articles. All staff are given access to online journals with a username and password provided by the NHS Trust. In addition a librarian is present in the library twice a week and is often willing to aid in literature searches if help is required. This is very similar to the systems in place at Western Bank Library, though on a much smaller scale!
A fundamental part of the radiographer’s role is being able to provide excellent patient information. This includes all the side effect information related to treatment but also greater holistic support raging from queries about cancer patient travel insurance to external organisations providing psychological support. Though much information is published in leaflet form by the hospital itself, sometimes organisations such as Macmillan or Cancer Research have the best resources. These are usually online. I therefore often have to use my skills of recognising authoritative, reliable information from my former degree to gain answers to unorthodox patient queries that are outside the medical realm.
The skills learnt from my Masters at Sheffield aid my career by enabling me to use good research skills to keep up to date with research in radiation oncology and to draw my own conclusions about the reliability of sources available."