International Covid-19 support for Radiographers and Radiological Technologists

Information and Support for Radiographers and Radiological Technologists Covid-19 and Chest X-ray

Preamble

This web-based information and support system is a joint initiative between and ISRRT and the EFRS. From conception to publication, the web-based system was developed and published within 16 days in response to an urgent international need. A multinational team was assembled, and thousands of hours of human effort went into its creation.

At the time of publishing the website, it was intended to represent good practice in mobile chest radiography. However, we must accept two caveats - 1. Practice and legal variations will occur within individual countries and we could not address them here; 2. The subject of mobile chest X-ray imaging and Personal Prospective Equipment (PPE) for Covid-19 is changing fast – so you should always check for any UpToDate evidence and your government guidelines, where they exist.

Purpose of this web-based information and support system

Within and between countries, the information provided to radiographers and radiological technologists about PPE and professional / social practices to minimise the chance of catching Covid-19 is highly variable. This web system shares what is considered to be good professional and social practice in this regard, from various countries across the world.

CT and mobile chest X-ray are considered to be two valuable imaging tools in the management of Covid-19, but due to the safety and logistics of CT it is certain that mobile chest X-ray will be used more extensively. Mobile radiography is an art and a science and not all radiographers/radiological technologists are up to date with this technique. Consequently, due to the rapid rise in demand for mobile chest X-ray imaging, many radiographers/radiological technologists will have to be reskilled and upskilled. We know this will place a huge resource burden, both locally and nationally, in order to create and deliver learning opportunities for them to meet training and educational needs. Providing a singular web-based information and support resource means that tens of thousands of hours can be saved across the world by reducing or even eliminating the need for replication of effort. More time can therefore be spent caring for patients.

Quality assurance, corrections and updating

The production of this website involved over 40 people, many of whom worked in small teams on specific topics. Nobody could meet in person due to social distancing and for some teams, they didn’t know one another prior to commencing the work. Time zones created additional difficulties, as synchronous working was hard to achieve around the globe. However, once each team produced material about a topic it was peer reviewed quickly and suggestions were made for improvement. The speed at which the whole process was done means some errors will exist. Consequently - we are open to suggestions – if you perceive an error (other than grammatical) please email ceo@isrrt.org and we shall try to correct it. In due course we shall need to review the content and appropriateness of the material about Covid-19 and the use of imaging and a team might be established to do this at some point.

How to use this web-based information and support system

You can use this web-based resource any way you like, for example

1. As an individual, you can work through each component sequentially and undertake the associated multiple choices questions
2. You could select to do just one or two individual components, to update yourself
3. If you are a practice educator, you could take whatever information you like from the website and use it when teaching in your hospital

Important - we recommend strongly that you gain practical experience alongside a radiographer/radiological technologist who is competent at performing mobile chest X-ray imaging, and ideally one who has Covid-19 PPE experience. Simply reading through this website is not a substitute for gaining clinical experience alongside a competent radiographer/ radiological technologist.

Links between web-platforms

The web-based system has web-platforms associated with it. The overwhelming majority of the materials are located on the ISRRT e-Learning platform. From here clickable links are made to other resources, including e-Learning for Health (e-LfH) learning sessions and EFRS COVID-19 web-resources and webinars. As you work through the ISRRT e-Learning platform do explore the clickable links … some are essential, while others enrich your learning experience.