Authors (including presenting author) :
Leung MH(1), Hung WY(1), Cheung CK(1)
Affiliation :
(1)Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, NTWC
Introduction :
Newly recruited (NR) radiographers II are one of the valuable assets of DR/NTWC in supporting emerging diagnostic imaging services and replacing retired and/ or resigned positions. With the 4-year bachelor degree program of Radiography program provided by the HK Polytechnic University, they are familiarized with basic imaging techniques. Yet, practical skills and local practices are seldom covered in the study environment and clinical placement. Thus, Buddy Training Program for NR radiographer was established in the year 2018 in DR/NTWC, which provides extra training and support to NR in the working environment, so as to help them quickly adapt to the workplace at a faster pace.
Objectives :
The objectives of establishing Buddy Training Program for NR radiographer in DR/NTWC are as follow: 1)To assist NR radiographers in adapting to working environment of DR/NTWC, 2)To develop a systematic training framework for NR radiographers in DR/NTWC, 3)To supplement HA IAAHS training and development program for Newly Recruited Radiographers, 4)To strengthen NR radiographers’ abilities in clinical service provision, 5)To boost the learning curves of NR radiographers, 6)To train up new leaders from buddy radiographers, and 6)To promote the culture of teamwork with colleagues in Radiology and other networking departments
Methodology :
The duration of the buddy training program was set to one year. Radiographers are recruited and assigned to guidance and/or tutorial training groups. The guidance group mainly focused on providing consultations and support to the NR radiographers. They would be assigned with same clinical duties with the NR radiographers during their training periods, in order to provide assistance and experience sharing on the clinical workflow/ tasks on different imaging modalities. In addition, buddies would accompany NR radiographers for their first shift duty, where working in shift duty often requires handling of non-routine situations. To facilitate the guidance process, in-house clinical modality checklist was prepared and organized by buddy team members, which serves as a standardized reference for colleagues to cover some essential topics to NR radiographers during training period. The tutorial group focused on organizing monthly lectures and workshops to NR radiographers, in which it covers essential knowledge for providing clinical services, e.g. patient identification process and overview on IT systems involved in DR etc. Practical skills would be shared during those training sessions. Apart from these, buddy team members would organize gathering activities for NR radiographers and buddies. Periodic review of NR radiographers’ performance would be carried out, and evaluation of the program would be carried out at the end of the program.
Result & Outcome :
The program started from August 2019 to August 2020. In total, 19 radiographers with more than 3 years working experience were recruited as buddies and 8 NR radiographers were recruited by DR/NTWC this year. Two buddy radiographers were assigned to one NR radiographer as the guidance in this year. Originally, 5 lunch lectures, 2 practical training sessions, 4 buddy periodic review meetings and 3 NR gatherings were scheduled during the period. Due to COVID pandemic and social distancing policies, 3 buddy review meetings and 2 NR gatherings were cancelled. Instead, on-line evaluation questionnaires were prepared for gathering opinions and thoughts from participants (Buddies & NR radiographers). Generally, both buddies and NR radiographers were satisfied with the arrangement of the buddy training program (average score of 4/5 & 4.14/5 respectively) and agreed this program was useful for NR radiographers in adapting to DR/NTWC environment (average score of 4.56/5 & 4.43/5 respectively). Among all materials provided in the program, NR radiographers thought lunch lectures were the most useful for their development (71.4%), followed by clinical checklist and practical sessions (42.9%).
