Emotional Intelligence and Productive Relationships with Patients and Colleagues

Challenges confronting sustainability in nuclear medicine practice

BACKGROUND

Sustainability can be defined as the state in which consumption or depletion do not exceed regeneration. It can further be considered in five dimensions: environmental, economic, social, human resources, and ecological.

KEY FINDINGS

There are a number of key issues that threaten sustainability across nuclear medicine clinical and research practices, and across the five dimensions of sustainability there is a requirement for compromise between conflicting priorities. Nonetheless, the field of nuclear medicine benefits from an inherent culture of innovation and forethought which fosters adaptation in order to achieve sustainability.

CONCLUSION

The principles of sustainability are particularly challenging to navigate due to resource scarcity in nuclear medicine associated with both workforce shortages and supply disruptions. Specific challenges and adaptations are outlined for each of the five dimensions of sustainability.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

There are opportunities for improving sustainability of nuclear medicine practice although success is reliant on a deeper understanding of the interplay across the five dimensions of sustainability.

Emotional intelligence of radiography students in a low resource setting: A cross-sectional survey

INTRODUCTION

Understanding noncognitive traits like emotional intelligence (EI) is valuable for radiography students, academics, practitioners, and educators. It helps them become aware of how these traits can impact their training, placements, and careers. This study aimed to evaluate the EI of radiography students at a tertiary institute in Harare, Zimbabwe.

METHODS

A quantitative cross-sectional study using a validated Trait EI questionnaire was conducted on students at a tertiary institute in Harare, Zimbabwe. Student t-test, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and Spearman's rho were employed for data analysis.

RESULTS

A total of 84 radiography students were enrolled in this study. The students had relatively lower EI scores (4.31 +/-0.49) as compared to most of their global counterparts. A significant positive monotonic relationship was identified between age and self-control factor (Spearman's rho = 0.22, p = 0.04). There were no statistically significant differences in mean scores for the global and the four EI factors when stratified by gender, even though males had slightly higher scores than females in all but the emotionality factor. There were no significant differences in the mean scores of the global as well as the four factors by year of study.

CONCLUSION

Deliberate, time-intensive curriculum interventions are needed to improve the EI of radiography students in Zimbabwe and this trend is potentially similar to other resource-limited settings. However, more context-specific evidence is needed to formulate the best techniques for EI interventions.

Emergency pharmacology for the CT technologist

The scope of practice of the medical radiation practitioner demands knowledge and understanding of the indications, contraindications, warnings, precautions, proper use, drug interactions and adverse reactions of a variety of medications. The risk of patient deterioration or acute emergent event, particularly following contrast administration, makes the command of crash cart medications particularly important. This article explores the pharmacological principles of medications most likely to be required in a medical emergency in the medical radiation department and in particular by the computed tomography (CT) technologist. The article also outlines early warning signs to assist in identifying the emergent or deteriorating patient. The learning outlined is designed to equip medical radiation practitioners with the capacity to identify and respond to a medical emergency typical of the medical radiation department, and to respond to that situation with the appropriate use of emergency medications where appropriate. The ability of medical radiation practitioners to recognise and respond to (including the use of medicines) the deteriorating patient or circumstances of a medically urgent nature are key capabilities required to meet minimum standards for Medical Radiation Practice Board of Australia registration and National Safety and Quality Health Service standards.