Looking for a career change, anyone with Radiography/medicine background? Help !

Final year medical student here
Study requires long hours of revision, you full week will involve a lot of studying for 5 years. Gets worse in yr 3, 4, 5 as u have placements at lots of different hospital in different parts of the country lasting 1 month each normally so location wise it can be tricky for mature students.
After this u do basic training for 2 yes somewhere in the country, takes over your life a little. After this u apply for speciality training and this can be hell, it lasts about 7 years for medical and surgical specialities. It takes over your life and has a huge emotional strain.
You can apply to be a gp which is a lot nicer and 3 years training only.
Career wise it is very stressful but u can have a balance if u do gp.
Note:70% of doctors dont apply to speciality straining after the 2 years of basic training, mainly because they feel they need a break or the emotional stress is too high so they take a few years away to travel or have a life.

Very stressful but if you care about it then you will be willing to sacrifice your life for it.
It is a lifestyle choice not to be taken lightly.

Having said that, I love medicine as a student and happy with my choice. I feel limited as to what I can do because I love medical and surgical specialities and hate gp, but gp is the only option to have an OK work life balance.

-also it's very hard to get into medicine please note this.
-if u love it and are passionate, and really care about the career and understand the reality of medicine, go for it. If u want to be rich fast it really isn't that. U will be paid well but the hours worked for that money is not worth it at all

Hi!

I've just finished my degree in Diagnostic Radiography and I am about to start working soon:

Here are some pros and cons from my experience.

Pros:
- There's a lot of variety meaning every day/week is different. You can be rota'd to A&E, fracture clinic, or mobile x-raying on wards, imaging in theatre, in NICU/PICU/HDU/ICU, you see in-patients and out-patients so if you're someone that is interested in working in a varied environment with all kinds of patients it's a good option. Some hospitals change the rota weekly and some daily.
- Career progression - you can pick a speciality further into your career like CT/MRI/Ultrasound or even work in dental or neuro hospitals. During my course I got to go to all of these areas and specialist hospitals so when applying it's good to look at the clinical sites that are available at each uni. If you wanted a 9-5, Mon-Fri job in the future then ultrasound is good, if you're happy doing nights and weekends then CT is good - so plenty of future options.
- Lots of jobs - there's a shortage, so you will be able to get a job easily.
- As a student you really get stuck in, you might observe here or there but most of the time they expect you to do things solo and supervise you. I've found this to be really good, its given me confidence and I feel prepared to work.
- Pay is good (for newly qualified band 5's), it goes up with London weighting, I'll get paid more than junior docs and if you think of the comparative hours/stress/responsibility you have compared to a junior doctor it's worth it. In terms of the pay going up as you get more experienced it's limited.
- A lot of people think it's just about pushing buttons and making sure the patient is ok. In reality you have to justify every single examination you do, so you have to know a lot about the conditions patients have, and you do have to think more about these things that people assume.
- In the UK we have a similar degree to Australia/New Zealand/Dubai (you should double check this) so there's opportunity to travel and work in the future.

Cons:
- The uni you pick will make a huge difference, whilst the content is probably similar everywhere, the rules about clinical placement will vary. It's a huge component of the course and you should think about: how strict they are with having to make up hours if you miss them (even if you're sick), the amount of hours you have to do in a week, how flexible they are with doing the hours on another day, how regularly they check-in with you, if you can change your placement site if there are problems, and also how long it will take you to commute to their placement sites. (I went to LSBU and I've had mostly good experiences with this).
- You don't spend much time with patients in the same way you would with medicine or midwifery, you don't really get to follow their journey, you see them for a tiny fraction of their care, and most of the time they'll be behind a lead screen or you watch them through a window.
- It is a physical job. Whilst all health care jobs will give you moving + handling training and have you on your feet, as a radiographer you will have to move people in and out of scanners, transfer them to/from wheelchairs/beds/scanners all day everyday.If you have anything like a bad back or anything like that I'd avoid.

I hope this helps and gives you more of an insight. let me know if you have any more questions!

Final year medical student here
Study requires long hours of revision, you full week will involve a lot of studying for 5 years. Gets worse in yr 3, 4, 5 as u have placements at lots of different hospital in different parts of the country lasting 1 month each normally so location wise it can be tricky for mature students.
After this u do basic training for 2 yes somewhere in the country, takes over your life a little. After this u apply for speciality training and this can be hell, it lasts about 7 years for medical and surgical specialities. It takes over your life and has a huge emotional strain.
You can apply to be a gp which is a lot nicer and 3 years training only.
Career wise it is very stressful but u can have a balance if u do gp.
Note:70% of doctors dont apply to speciality straining after the 2 years of basic training, mainly because they feel they need a break or the emotional stress is too high so they take a few years away to travel or have a life.

Very stressful but if you care about it then you will be willing to sacrifice your life for it.
It is a lifestyle choice not to be taken lightly.

Having said that, I love medicine as a student and happy with my choice. I feel limited as to what I can do because I love medical and surgical specialities and hate gp, but gp is the only option to have an OK work life balance.

-also it's very hard to get into medicine please note this.
-if u love it and are passionate, and really care about the career and understand the reality of medicine, go for it. If u want to be rich fast it really isn't that. U will be paid well but the hours worked for that money is not worth it at all

Thank you @Sarahmedic !! thank you for your feedbacks and i know it is very hard, my cousins are GPs and i have seen the emotional stress on them.. and sacrifices... but they love their jobs.

Can i ask, why do you hate GP ?

I had some experiences abroad in refugee camps, and some of my experiences just made me realise that is what i really want to do.. my first choice would be medicine. i know its very hard to get into medical school but i am over 30s now, i have been thinking about it for quite some times...

I dont think anyone should be a gp just for money ... i can have a good job in marketing too which pays well but i am not interested in that field anymore.

thank you again for your tips, advices and taking the time to answer my questions !

Vee

I dont hate gp, it's great but just not as exciting and u predictable as other things. Can be isolating cos u only see a couple of doctors that work there and staff. Hospital u meet billions of new people all the time. I tend to isolate myself so dont want a job which enhances that haha. U shouldn't be worried about ur age. I'm currently studying with atleast 15 over 37s on my course, its ur life and dont let age stop u. When you think of this in a couple of yrs u will thank yourself. If its stressful go part time, or do something exciting and niche haha eg public health, humanitarian, global health, even research and journalism

thank you ! great advice and tips, really appreciate your time to reply to my questions !

really i did not think there would be so much mature students.. which uni are you in if you dont mind me asking ?

Manchester! Dont forget medicine is a degree that is so great that people WILL and DO pursue it regardless of their age. and it's totally worth it- with other things it's harder to take a risk cos its unknown, but medicine is a solid career which is beautiful and worth the sacrifice. Dont let age stop you. If it helps medics dont finish training until much later and take many years out for family, babies, work less than full time so dont assume the young students finish and are consultants before the older mature students who already have life a little figured out and more life experience!