AHPs Day Special: Education and Training Lead Sonographer
Annie Knowles is the Education and Training Lead Sonographer for Barts Health. She lives in Whitechapel and works cross site at all Barts Health hospitals. To celebrate #AHPsDay, we asked her what a day in the life of a Sonographer looks like...
My job...
I qualified as a radiographer in Oxford in 1992. I joined St Bartholomew’s in 1997 and began training in ultrasound in 2000. I have worked as a band 7 sonographer, modality site lead 8A and have been the cross site Barts Health ultrasound service manager between 2012-2015. Following a HEE visit I realised there was an urgent requirement to retain staff by maintaining training and development and that somebody needed to tackle this. I enjoyed my management experience immensely however felt compelled to return to my passion of teaching and clinical training. I am now employed part-time as an ultrasound training and education lead / practice educator. I recruit and teach ultrasound trainees, monitoring their performance, and assisting the nominated supervisors to produce appropriately qualified, safe practitioners. I perform ultrasound lists with trainees and look after the CPD or upskilling of the band 7 qualified sonographers.
My alarm goes off...
I’m fortunate to live just a five minute minute walk from The Royal London Hospital, but irrespective of which site I’m working at I wake around 6.45am. Before getting ready for work I must feed my lovely 19-month chocolate Labrador Emmy otherwise she’ll be upset and I’ll be in trouble! I have breakfast with my family and make packed lunches for my children before seeing them off to school...normally calling after them that they’ve forgotten their PE kit, school journal or bag! I drop Emmy at the dog sitter and then walk or tube to work.
My typical day...
I work part-time and try an organise meetings plus teaching and clinical training into my 2 contracted days. I arrive at 8.30am and check and respond to emails. If I’m clinical, I will meet with my trainee ahead of the list which begins at 9am to discuss progress and outline objectives for the day. I then supervise and scan a list of patients, in any type of ultrasound as required, teaching and discussing cases with my trainee to ensure clinical and technical ability is achieved. I have recently helped to construct Tuesday lunchtime CPD meetings for the Trust sonographers at each site so I often alternate where I am based each Tuesday to either deliver CPD training or to observe staff presenting at this meeting. I help to coordinate training for all trust sonographers plus the postgraduate trainees from radiography and midwifery, so a lot of my time is spent conversing with universities and course providers, negotiating training and completing required course paperwork. I run ultrasound training sessions on the Medaphor ultrasound simulator (at Whipps Cross Hospital) for interested trainees wishing to take up or improve ultrasound skills. I meet with students and their supervisors to discuss progress and assist in clinical competency assessments. Work is meant to finish at 5pm but being part-time I’m guilty of staying behind to chat to trainees and catch up with emails or colleagues I might not see during my days off. Working part-time provides a wonderful work/life balance but there’s always a downside!
My most memorable moment...
During my 20 years here at the Trust I don’t have one particular moment … I have many! Seeing my trainees successfully qualify after all the clinical guidance from our wonderful Trust sonographer team is definitely an amazing feeling. Seeing two of my own students grow to become home grown site leads at this Trust and doing a fantastic job leading their own sonographer teams makes me smile every day.
The worst part of my job...
Most definitely having to deliver bad or unexpected news following an abnormal or pathological finding. Miscarriage is not what any mother wants to hear but especially so if it’s a late gestation. It’s heartbreaking for the parents especially if in some cases they’ve gone through cycles of fertility treatment. The Sonographer needs to continue with the list and compose themselves for the next scan which is often hard. It’s important to maintain composure but we are all human.
The best part of my job...
I love the spontaneity of my job being able to assure patients during or after the scan that everything’s ok. You can’t beat the feeling of showing parents their babies’ heartbeat or telling someone the scan is normal when they enter the scan room nervous assuming cancer.
After work...
I walk my doggie, help and supervise my children’s homework and take turns cooking dinner with my husband and eldest daughter. On my nights off I enjoy going to the gym, socialising with friends/work colleagues or being a groupie at my husband’s band nights (he’s a surgical Professor at Barts Health but also a semi-professional county music star! Look out for his band The Wild East playing at a venue near you and his first solo single due to be released in early 2019 in the US!!!).