ISRRT_COVID-19_book

As the majority of these patients required hospital treatment, most were admitted to the
wards, and the patients who had become acutely unwell/deteriorated would need urgent
chest imaging. As these patients were too unwell to come down to the department, the
inevitable result was an increase in the number of mobile examination requests.
Working in an extremely busy NHS Trust in the North West of England, in a profession that is
nationally recognised as being short staffed, can affect ones mental and physical health.
Coupling that issue with a disease that had manifested itself across the world did not just
result in uncertainty regarding its transmission but it also added to the mental and physical
stress that had been transmitted to frontline healthcare professionals. Radiographers had to
try to cope with the ever-increasing workflow, for example, the number of mobile chest x-ray
examinations as it was unsafe for most of these patients to be transported and x-rayed in the
department. One solution to tackling this sudden increase in workload was to send more than
one radiographer on a confirmed COVID-19 portable chest x-ray procedure, which resulted in
a more efficient workflow. For example, one radiographer would perform the examination,
whilst the other would be assisting the other healthcare staff to position the patient and then
preparing to clean all the equipment in a rigorous manner following advice from infection
control procedures. Mobile chest x-ray examinations were usually conducted as a team effort
on the ward before COVID-19, however, when imaging COVID-19 patients the need for a team
approach was amplified even further as these sorts of patients would be in serious ill-health
and several healthcare staff were needed to assist imaging. The addition of one more
radiographer was particularly useful when x-raying patients who were prone as this was a
non-standard chest x-ray position and it meant the task of positioning the patient and the
equipment was shared and essentially more efficient. Before entering the COVID wards, staff
from any area of practice would ensure effective infection control protocols were met for the
safety of the team, in this case the entire healthcare team. For example, staff would check
the person entering had donned the appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) by
making sure gowns and masks were securely fastened and for those who were unable to use
the masks, staff would ensure they had been appropriately trained to use the air-powered
hood.
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