Exploring the Experiences of the Radiography Workforce Delivering Medical Imaging As Part of Patients’ End of Life Care
A recent exploratory study conducted in the UK has provided some of the first insights into end of life care in medical imaging. This work has importantly drawn attention to the clear and vital role the radiography workforce has in patients’ end of life care. Findings identified an absence of end of life care policy and education accessible to radiography staff, limiting their ability to provide evidenced based care. Difficulty identifying patients receiving end of life care further hindered the radiography workforces’ ability to adapt their care and provide a more person centred approach.
However, it is recognised that our findings only relate to the study sample and not necessarily represent the wider experiences and opinions of the medical imaging workforce. Consequently, there is a need for a larger study to explore end of life care provision in UK medical imaging departments to establish and develop on the findings from our exploratory study. These findings will be used to develop policy as well as education interventions aimed at supporting the radiography workforce to delivering high quality care to those nearing the end of their life.
Team