I've had a very busy day today full of an eclectic mix of tasks so I thought it might be a good day to do a bit of "day in the life of"/ reflecting. It's also Healthcare Science week so the perfect opportunity to share! 07:20 Arrive at work. I'm "on the early" which means … Continue reading Day in the life of a (trainee) radiotherapy physicist
Category: STP Training
“To save patients’ lives!?”
3 months in radiotherapy and I still have my patient empathy. Perhaps a little too much. We had lectures last week and as part of one on radiation safety, the Radiation Protection Advisor asked, “Why do we do what we do?”. Now I’ve worked with him previously and he’s lovely and so without any hesitation … Continue reading “To save patients’ lives!?”
Radiotherapy Physicist Week 1
My new desk detritus! I'm one whole week into my career as a radiotherapy physicist! I've got my professional hedgehogs mug, my bunnies 2020 calendar, my homemade diary cover and I am ready to smash it! I have learnt an astonishing amount in just one week, from the uses of in-vivo dosimetry to the use … Continue reading Radiotherapy Physicist Week 1
Vascular ultrasound
#MedicalPhysicistOnTourPart2 Today in Medical Physics on Tour Part 2, I spent the morning in Vascular Ultrasound. Vascular scientists perform routine and urgent ultrasounds on the vascular (blood vessel) system all over the body to diagnose and rule out a range of conditions including Deep Vein Thrombosis, aneurysms and checks on fistulas used for kidney dialysis. … Continue reading Vascular ultrasound
Echocardiography
#MedicalPhysicistOnTourPart1 One of the great things about the STP is the ability to parachute into other departments to have a look at how your decisions as a clinical scientist would affect the department's working life. It also enables you to have a further insight into the workings of other parts of the hospital and how … Continue reading Echocardiography
Classic trainee panic in Nuc Med
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, I'm contaminated, oh my goodness how did this happen!?!?! I was only dealing with non-active waste why is my right hand so radioactive!?!?Me, 2019. Spoiler alert- if a patient having a stress/rest myocardial perfusion scan and then comes over to ask you a question whilst you're monitoring yourself on a hand and foot monitor, … Continue reading Classic trainee panic in Nuc Med
Radiotherapy Patient Pathway
Having spent 3 months in the radiotherapy physics department, I finally got the opportunity today to spend some time with the radiographers, scanning, planning and treating patients. This blog post will hopefully illustrate my understanding of the pathway that patients go through for their radiotherapy treatment as well as some reflections I have had over … Continue reading Radiotherapy Patient Pathway
TCP & NTCP
Radiotherapy has a lot of abbreviations and today I've had to relearn some of the most annoying of them all: TCP= Tumour Control Probability NTCP= Normal Tissue Complication Probability For a good radiotherapy treatment we want TCP>= 0.5 and NTCP <=0.05 A/N: WHY ARE THERE SO MANY ABBREVIATIONS WHICH ARE ALWAYS USED TOGETHER AND HAVE … Continue reading TCP & NTCP
ART*- less of an art, more of a science.
*(Adaptive Radiotherapy) People are the worst, right? Humans have their own internal biases, their own ways of doing things, their own subjectivity and their own distractions. So why don't we just automate all treatment planning? This was certainly the attitude that I took at before beginning this placement in radiotherapy. It turns out that it's … Continue reading ART*- less of an art, more of a science.
What even is an x-ray?
I've always been taught the electromagnetic spectrum goes (in song form)... Radiowaves, Microwaves, Infrared... Radiation, Visible light, Ultraviolet, X-rays, Gamma rays. The assumption being that the higher the note sung (the later in the song), the higher the energy, the shorter the wavelength u.s.w. Therefore why are we calling my LINAC friends x-ray units?! Their … Continue reading What even is an x-ray?
"You're obviously not a scientist" 