Week 5 - SVUH

Week 5

Like a real radiographer

Week five marked the beginning of my five week clinical placement in Ireland. I was placed in Saint Vincent's University hospital (SVUH). I was supposed to start with two other students from my university in Finland but they were sadly sick so I ventured off alone. Soon enough I met familiar Irish students who helped me get started.

Thanks to the new bank holiday, my week only lasted three days with Fridays off for Erasmus students. I started my placement on CT. If everything goes according to plan the following five weeks I'll explore almost all the modalities SVUH has to offer, CT, PET, nuclear med, mammography, generals, ultrasound, IR and theatre. Shorter times allow me to explore a wider variety of modalities but leaves me into a more observer role. I have had a placement in all modalities so I don't mind too much.

All the essentials

There are a lot of small differences. Small differences that have snowballed into large differences I am still getting used to. In Finland the hospital offers work clothing for everyone including students while in SVUH we brought our own uniforms. I also got my first ever swipe card for hospital access (I am used to keys and wasn't prepared to get my photo taken!). The hospital is quite different from what I'm used to and reminds me more of an airport - university hybrid. 

I noticed that nurses are a lot more involved in the scanning process than in Finland. Back in Finland radiographers administer all necessary medications and contrast medium (p.o and i.v) meanwhile here we might stop the scanning process to wait for a doctor to administer a diuretic. There are a lot of people in the CT-room too, up to 17 at once while I'm used to two radiographers per machine in Finland. It also gets quite busy at times, especially when there is a patient from the emergency room!

Oral contrast is also very popular here. In Finland I have never given oral contrast to a patient but at SVUH most CT patients receive it. I was allowed to give patients directions and administer the oral contrast medium independently which was nice practise. In Finland we prefer plain water around 10 minutes before the scan. I should probably research the topic more.

This placements puts me into a weird spot - in Finland I am able to position the patients, start cannulas and do the scans on my own.  I know I am not entitled to do those things and overall I don't know what is expected of me as a student.