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Radiographers' perspectives on their changing roles and some implications for their pre-service education in Wales: a study of three departments

Pratt, Shaaron D. 2005. Radiographers' perspectives on their changing roles and some implications for their pre-service education in Wales: a study of three departments. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University.

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Abstract

This study undertakes a comparative study across three different settings in South Wales of the factors influencing radiographer's roles and 'role development', the general and specialist skills required of them, their attitudes toward radiography education and its outputs, predominantly at undergraduate level and changes, if any, which these matters imply might appropriately be made to the radiography curriculum. A brief history of radiography provides a background to exploration of current patterns of their work and 'role development'. These are set in the context of the changing character of professions within a public service increasingly intent on intensifying and flexibfising labour processes. Given the conceptually and methodologically limited character of existing work in the field, a variety of methodological approaches drawn from a wide range of occupational studies were considered and a number of scales of investigation considered before formulating a simple typology for distinguishing radiology departments of different size and structure. This was used as a basis for selecting three contrasting sites in South Wales where data was collected initially from 44 radiographers and managers by questionnaire (prefaced by focus groups) concerning their biographies, current work and its context and their opinions as to the radiography undergraduate curriculum and the graduates that K produced. This first phase enabled identification of informants for a second, interview phase of the study. A number of themes were identified and provide the framework for the narrative presentation of findings. General radiography is seen to be giving way to increasing specialisation in a context of prolonged shortage of both radiographic and radiological staff and clinically driven technological change. Radiologists were identified as pivotal in facilitating or hindering the extent and shape of changing radiographers' work and the right to report upon procedures as central to their respective power and control. Size, range of operations, radiologists' inclinations and the staff structures and cultures which they engendered differed across departments. Impending change entailed by the requirements of Agenda for Change qua altered grading criteria, pressure for skill- mixing and the introduction of a four tier structure were received with scepticism, considered more as threats than opportunities. While advanced practitioner roles were embraced, informants were both relatively uninformed and sceptical of the feasibility of consultant practitioner roles and almost universally unwilling to accept assistant practitioners on both clinical and political-professional grounds. Respondents across three settings evinced different attitudes to and experience of student radiographers and graduates. While undergraduate programmes were generally held to be adequate, they were seen not to afford sufficient practical experience for students,. Yet graduates were, in the main, considered to be performing satisfactorily.

Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
Status: Unpublished
Schools: Medicine
Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education)
Subjects: H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
L Education > L Education (General)
R Medicine > R Medicine (General)
ISBN: 9781303170102
Date of First Compliant Deposit: 30 March 2016
Last Modified: 04 Jun 2017 06:00
URI: https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/55585

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