World Radiography Day is celebrated on the 8th November which marks the discovery of x-rays on 8th November 1895 by Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen (Society and College of Radiographers, 2017) who later won the very first Nobel prize in 1901 (Novelprize.org, 2014).
Have you met a radiographer?
Most of us probably would have, whether it is to do with ourselves or members of our families and friends, who, because of injuries or diseases or conditions need diagnosis or treatment in a hospital.
There are two types of radiographers: diagnostic radiographers and therapeutic radiographers.
Diagnostic radiographers take images of the inside of our body using the right imaging equipment to help in identifying what may go wrong inside our body. For example, they can detect whether there is a problem caused by foreign objects in our system, something wrong with our digestive system, maybe a problem with our blood vessels etc. Ultrasound, X-rays, Computed Tomography or Magnetic Resonance Imaging are their methods in finding out whereabouts or what is going on inside our body.
Therapeutic radiographers or radiotherapy radiographers on the other hand, are more about delivering treatment using radiation.
Both of them must have knowledge on human anatomy, physiology, pathology, physics, high-technology equipment and more (National Awareness days, 2009-2017). As they also take care of patients, in addition, they need to know about the skills and the familiarities of patient care.
When something is not right inside our body, when the pain is unbearable, when the anxiety grows stronger (not knowing for certain what is going to happen) and when family and friends start feeling distressed, what we want is to get help and feel a lot better. While attempts are made in helping us recover from all of these, Radiographers play an important role in a large medical team.
So, let’s recognise their involvement and celebrate the World Radiography Day by acknowledging their great work to our colleagues, friends, parents and anyone who is associated with radiography.
Thank you Radiographers and everyone who educates anyone else to become a Radiographer.
Happy Radiography Day!
Written by Endang Scanlon, Subject Librarian for Health Sciences and Radiography. Check out Endang’s Library Guide for Radiography.
REFERENCES
Society and College of Radiographers (2017). World Radiography Day. Available at https://www.sor.org/about-radiography/world-radiography-day (Accessed: 3 November 2017).
Nobelprize.org (2014). The Very First Nobel Prizes. Available at http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/themes/other/first-prizes/index.html (Accessed: 3 November 2017).
National Awareness Days (2009-2017). World Radiography Day. Available at http://www.national-awareness-days.com/world-radiography-day/ (Accessed: 3 November 2017).