Radiography or optom

My mum wants me to study optom but I’m not sure I want to and tbh idk what I want to study I’m thinking radiography but that doesn’t massively interest me I’m thinking just firm it.But which is better job prospects wise work life balance wise and also study wise.
Thankyou and anyone who’s studied either could u give me an insight on how you’ve found the studying or placement.

Reply 1

CCCU Health Rep

Official Rep

Original post by Moon12”

These courses are 3-4 years in length and are also intense courses due to the nature of healthcare, so you will want to make sure it is 100% something you are interested in/passionate about before starting otherwise some people find it a struggle to commit to the workload (both at university and around placements).

With Diagnostic Radiography, you could work in various areas of hospitals but also GP surgeries and clinics, and there is also scope to work overseas (Australia is very popular for DRs). You could also go into research, or branch out to prisons, customs and excise and the armed forces.
Progression is generally quite good as you can work your way through the NHS grading structure both clinically but also in managerial roles if that is something of interest 🙂 You could also specialise into specific areas, such as nuclear medicine or ultrasound.

With Therapeutic Radiography, your focus will be much more on all aspects of radiotherapy treatment for patients, working closely with patients and their families around their care and treatment plans. You will likely be working in radiography departments in NHS hospitals or private hospitals. Again, there is scope to work overseas, but there is a shortage of TRs in the UK, so jobs are often easy to secure once qualified. There is also scope to further develop and take on more responsibilities under different areas.

With both of these roles, your working week could include a mixture of shift patterns, including evenings, weekends and nights.

If you are really unsure, take it back to what initially made you consider studying radiography - is it the nature of the work, the qualities underpinning healthcare professionals, practical nature - and then compare with other roles (either under healthcare or wider) and see if something else might interest you further 🙂