Radiography careers for talented sixth form students
23/02/2010
Sixth Form students Aamina Akhtar, Liam Smith, Emily Mehvish and Emily Whitfield with Helen Lord from Burnley’s X-Ray department
As part of Nelson and Colne College’s unique Pre-Medical Programme, sixth form students attended a presentation by Helen Lord, Clinical Tutor at Burnley’s X-Ray Department, which aimed to provide the students with information about the skills required to succeed as a Diagnostic Radiographer.
Nelson and Colne College is committed to helping students enter top professions. The Pre-Medical programme is part of a wider range of Pre-Professional programmes designed to prepare students for the challenges of applying to study to competitive university programmes such as Medicine, Dentistry, Veterinary Science, Law, Teaching and Journalism. Just last year, 27 students gained entry onto Law related degree courses and 12 progressed to degrees in the medical fields including, medicine, veterinary science pharmacy and optometry including Former Unity pupil Emily Long who gained excellent results at the College and is now reading Veterinary Medicine and Surgery at Nottingham University and former Fisher More pupil Cathleen Rowan, who has progressed to Cardiff to study Medicine.
Helen Lord, Clinical Tutor at Burnley ’s X-Ray department, came to Nelson & Colne College to speak to a group of students about the challenging field of radiography. The modern health service relies heavily on radiography and radiographers are trusted to operate innovative equipment which is worth millions of pounds. Radiographers not only take X-Rays, but they also provide treatments such as Fluoscopy , CT (computer tomography), MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), Ultrasound and Angiography. Some highly trained radiographers even provide treatments for certain cancers which respond well to precisely targeted doses of radiation.
Guest speaker Helen Lord said, “I was very impressed by the students, who were very attentive and interested in the subject. I think the Pre-medical Programme is a great idea as it gives the students an insight and background into the various career choices available before committing to a degree course. Often they are unaware about the differences between the professions and find it difficult to choose a career option. This programme should help them to make an informed choice.”
