Moved by the care that her grandparents received, Ismat Khan was inspired to choose a career and qualification in the NHS. Ismat says, “I always knew I wanted to get into healthcare. I explored options through a career programme and open days. Only then did I understand the whole variety of healthcare professionals.
“Ismat 21, embraced opportunities to help during the coronavirus pandemic from the very beginning. “The course gave me unique opportunities to develop myself as a person and a professional. I was among 40,000 student healthcare workers, including nurses, midwives and paramedics, who returned to placements to help on the frontline.
“Getting on placement so early on in my first year, getting hands-on experience and understanding the role of a radiographer straight away. That helped me to decide very quickly if this profession was right for me.
“This role is different every day. We get to be part of a whole range of departments across the hospital and there are several options to specialise and progress. I meet a whole range of people from the elderly to children. A hand or chest x-ray may be the same task, but it needs to be handled uniquely patient to patient.
“Radiographers, I think, are unique!” Ismat enthuses. “Radiography can have so much emotional interaction. Especially with children! Sometimes they are so scared of equipment, and we need to make sure our approach is appropriate so they’re relaxed and gain a good report in a short space of time.
“Meeting new people, for sure, is the most rewarding thing. It’s a cliché but patients, at the end of the day, make working in the NHS rewarding.
“I had never realised that there were so many opportunities for progression in my role. For example, leadership. I never realised when I entered into this profession that I could get into teaching and mentoring, which I love, having had great teachers and mentors that I now look up to too, as role models.”
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