Case studies : Therapy radiographer: Katherine Jakeman

Katherine has a BSc (Hons) Radiography Radiotherapy from Birmingham City University. She works as a therapy radiographer at Coventry University Hospital, the hospital where she did her training whilst at university.

In my final year at Birmingham City University  I attended lots of interviews and secured a couple of jobs but I decided to stay at Coventry. The fact that I trained in the department at Coventry University Hospital definitely helped when applying for the job as they knew I related well to patients and was very capable in all the technical aspects of the job.

A typical day involves arriving at 8.45am and carrying out morning checks on the Linear Accelerator; this is checking that the machine is working properly and precisely. Patients arrive from 9am. We treat around 40 patients per day and finish at 5pm. Each patient comes for treatment daily for three to seven weeks, depending on where their cancer is and what outcome we are trying to achieve. Some treatments are to shrink tumours before surgery whereas others are to eradicate the tumour solely with radiation. We also work closely with the chemotherapy department, the cancer ward, dietitians, oncologists and specialist nurses.

At the moment I am working on a machine that mainly treats prostate and rectal cancer but we also treat breast cancer, head and neck cancer and brain tumours amongst others. This involves positioning the patient on the treatment couch and then delivering a high dose of radiation to the tumour site. We use x-ray pictures and soft tissue images to make sure we are treating the correct area. Each treatment is different and involves different immobilisation equipment and treatment dose. The days are very varied and we are on a rota around the department which includes CT scanning, pre-treatment preparation and planning, as well as treatments.

The most challenging part of my job is the emotional side to working with patients with cancer. The patients we treat are going through the most difficult time in their lives and we are there to support them through it both physically and mentally. About 40% of our patients are palliative, which means that their cancer is terminal. We treat them to reduce tumour size or to alleviate symptoms such as pain.

The best thing about the profession is helping to make people well again or at least to feel better and improve their quality of life. There is a lot of humour in the department both with the patients and the staff.

If people want to find out more about working in radiotherapy they should go into a department and spend a day there. Most departments are very encouraging of potential students visiting. Radiotherapy is a very rewarding career and there are many avenues that qualified radiographers can take both clinically and in other fields.