There is high demand for radiology tasters and a lot of work goes into organising so please give as much notice as you can – most departments you work in will ask for 6 weeks notice for study leave requests. Try and get study leave rather than use annual leave for your taster as you need your annual leave to rest/enjoy yourself.
For a taster experience to count towards your application, you will need a minimum of 3 days within radiology or nuclear medicine department.
Within tertiary centres our standardised rotas typically consist of the following sessions:
- CT
- MRI
- Plain film
- Duty Radiology
- IR
- Ultrasound
Please note that wherever you have your taster, you will have exposure to a good mix of modalities and gain useful insight into a career in radiology.
Over the period of your foundation programme you can have up to a maximum of two taster weeks from your 3rd rotation in FY1 – some departments may be more flexible, but these are the rules within the Scotland Deanery as per their website:
How to organise a taster week
Step 1: Look at your current work rota. Find a period of at least 3 days in a row, up to a maximum of 5 days. If you do not have your rota yet, select 3-5 in a row which you would like your taster to be on. Please note, during periods of high demand we may only be able to facilitate a maximum of 3 days for tasters per person.
Step 2: Ask your rota coordinator/clinical supervisor if you will be able to have these days as study leave for a taster.
Step 3: Once you have selected dates that work for you and have confirmed they suit your team, please complete the following request form using your NHS email address:
https://forms.gle/jK2LUShodgduDRMJ9
Using your NHS email address will help us confirm your identity.
Step 4: One of our taster week coordinators will be in contact with you afterwards to confirm dates/location of your taster, or to find out further information if dates are not suitable.
Step 5: Once your taster has been confirmed, submit your Turas study leave application form with the information you will now have.
As our tasters are based on our weekly departmental rotas, do no expect to hear about your taster timetable until the weekend before your start date.
Taster requests with less than 2 weeks notice will not be accommodated.
Each department needs to allow for appropriate staffing levels to facilitate tasters, therefore we ask that people avoid changeover weeks and school/public holidays.
Tasters will only be approved for regular working hours Monday-Friday (9am-5pm).
If any issues arise which may result in a change to your taster dates, please email scottishradiologytaster@gmail.com as soon as possible so we can try and find new dates for your taster.
If you have to cancel or reschedule your taster last minute, you will be given one more opportunity to try and reschedule a taster experience. We can not offer more than that because radiology tasters are in demand, and a lot of time and work goes into organising taster sessions. It is not fair to other people wanting tasters or to the consultants/registrars who are involved with creating taster sessions. Please remember we are all adult-learners and are responsible for our own learning. Act courteously and responsibly as you would with your day-to-day job.
Out-of-hours
If you wish to observe out-of-hours work, this can be specified in our request form.
The radiology out-of-hours hub is now located at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.
Please bear this in mind if your top choice for taster is at a different site, as you will need to travel between sites and this will cut the last session of your day short.
For out-of-hours during the weekdays, the Hub starts operating from 16:30.
The purpose of this optional add-on is to give you a flavour of out-of-hours in radiology.
You will not be expected to stay for the whole evening shift, a couple of hours should suffice to see how the hub is set up and generally how it works.
It is not necessary to do this, but has been provided as an option for those who are interested.
OOH are fairly similar to duty sessions, which everyone will experience during a taster expect that there is a greater volume of calls and the registrars report urgent scans alongside.
Weekends are not typically offered as out-of-hours experiences.
Sickness/Absence
When you are on your taster, the radiology department will have a duty of care towards you.
If you are unwell during your taster, or if there any emergencies which mean you will not be able to attend please notify your main point of contact for the week. Please also email scottishradiologytaster@gmail.com to keep us updated.
As a reminder, if you have norovirus or other diarrhoea/vomiting sickness bug, please be aware the same infection control rules apply as they would in your normal day-to-day job. Please stay off for a minimum of 48 hours following your last episode of D/V.
Continue to follow all appropriate guidance for COVID too.
West of Scotland Radiology 