The lack of a solid framework or job description for consultant radiology technologists in the U.K. is jeopardizing the profession, according to research published in Radiography this month. It’s also resulting in a generation of consultants who are ill-prepared for their roles.
Many a medical organization in England fails to differentiate the consultant technologist role from that of an advanced or specialist practitioner, corresponding author Julie Nightingale, PhD, and colleagues wrote, and that’s the problem—the former term doesn’t have a clear definition. Nightingale, of Sheffield Hallam University in the U.K., and her co-authors said non-medical consultants are expected to provide expert clinical practice, professional leadership and service development, conduct research and undertake educational projects as part of their jobs, but that’s often not the case.
There were 133 consultant practitioners in the U.K. in March of this year, the authors wrote, compared to the 32,167 radiology technologists registered with the Health and Care Professions Council.
“While acknowledging that not all registered radiographers will be currently in practice in the U.K., this nevertheless equates to approximately 0.4 percent of the registered profession,” they said. “A reported cause of the limited adoption of non-medical consultant practitioner roles has been the difficulty experienced by organizations to clearly define and differentiate the consultant role from advanced or specialist practice and, in turn, clarify role expectations in terms of measures of success.”
And the 0.4 percent of the field that is focusing on consultant practices is still off-balance, Nightingale et al. wrote. While those professionals are expected to spend around half of their time on expert clinical practice and the rest on the other objectives of a consultant, in reality consultant technologists spent up to 90 percent of their time on clinical practice alone.
Spending so much time on one aspect of the job limits its potential role and reach, the authors said, and if a practice fails to prove the utility of a consultant technologist, the job could be eliminated altogether. As it stands, it’s not uncommon for consultants to start their first day of work unprepared and overwhelmed, since an unclear job description means unclear expectations.
“The transition from advanced to consultant practice is a challenging and emotional journey representing a significant life event rather than a simple job promotion,” Nightingale and colleagues wrote. “Consultant practitioners are often ‘launched’ into their new role without consideration of their transitional period.”
To establish some kind of framework for the job, Nightingale and her team assigned five experienced technologists from different clinical specializations to a one-year consultant trainee post, where they followed a curriculum devised by the researchers. The framework aligned with Society and College of Radiographers suggestions and was designed to guide enrollees toward accreditation.
“Early interactions with framework objectives were mechanistic, but as participants better understood the role more creative approaches emerged,” the authors wrote. “Despite diverse clinical expertise, the framework facilitated parity between participants, promoting transparency and credibility, which was important in how the consultant role was perceived.”
All study participants completed all framework objectives, they said, and were then appointed to substantive consultant technologist positions. They said adopting such a tool across the country could help promote inter-organizational transferability and provide consultants with parameters to measure their success.
“This outcomes framework facilitates experienced radiographers to successfully transition into consultant radiographers, enabling them to meet multiple non-clinical targets while continuing to work effectively within a changing clinical environment,” Nightingale et al. said. “It is the first validated benchmarking tool designed to support the transition to radiographer consultant practice.”
After graduating from Indiana University-Bloomington with a bachelor’s in journalism, Anicka joined TriMed’s Chicago team in 2017 covering cardiology. Close to her heart is long-form journalism, Pilot G-2 pens, dark chocolate and her dog Harper Lee.