patient support skills for hybrid imaging practitioners

During a weeks clinical attachment at a regional PET/CT centre in England, I began to realise the patient support skills that are required by nuclear medicine practitioners who work in PET/CT and SPECT/CT. Being able to identify the emotional levels within a patient during the first few moments of contact is crucial.

All practitioners working within an oncology environment learn to adjust their working parameters with each individual patient who requires care and treatment. Equipping nuclear medicine practitioners with patient support skills will ensure they fully appreciate and understand the patient's perspective / current state of mind and hopefully obtain optimal images. I have begun to explore the value of patient support training sessions for hybrid imaging practitioners and basic strategies that could be adopted.

We already use the Health Talk Online website within the programme of nuclear medicine education at the University of the West of England, Bristol and have begun including service users within certain modules. However, the inclusion of specific patient support sessions should further help nuclear medicine practitioners communicate with patients and provide a holistic clinical service.