A remarkable milestone: celebrating 10,000 attendees at the informatics training sessions
As the SoR’s informatics advisory group commemorates this landmark occasion, Alexander Peck recaps its important work
After 18 years and hundreds of sessions, delegates in Liverpool celebrated the 10,000th attendee of the non-profit national informatics training sessions during a recent Fundamentals of Radiology IT study day.
On presenting a complete set of the Clark’s Essentials textbook series to Joanne Craig, lead superintendent radiographer at the Ulster Independent Clinic, organiser Alexander Peck said: “For close to two decades, these vendor-neutral training sessions have been attended by radiographers, PACS (picture archiving and communication systems) administrators, radiology assistants, medical physics staff, pathology teams, nurses, vets, students, engineers and even supplier staff. It’s fantastic to realise so many frontline staff have now been trained in a historically niche speciality of our profession.
“All of this has been made possible over the years by the trainers and support staff generously donating so many weekends of time, as well as the SoR helping to encourage the development of professional skills in this often-neglected subject area. This, together with the longstanding support of the British Institute of Radiology, Royal College of Radiologists and members of the Institution of Engineering and Technology in developing the content of the courses, has made the sessions a useful resource for the radiography profession.”
From left to right: Anant Patel (radiographer, SoR RIAG), 10,000th Attendee Joanne Craig (lead superintendent radiographer, Ulster Independent Clinic), Alexander Peck (radiographer, SoR RIAG) and Dr Anand Patel (consultant orthopaedic surgeon, Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals).
From left to right: Anant Patel (radiographer, SoR RIAG), 10,000th Attendee Joanne Craig (lead superintendent radiographer, Ulster Independent Clinic), Alexander Peck (radiographer, SoR RIAG) and Dr Anand Patel (consultant orthopaedic surgeon, Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals).
Orthopaedic surgeon and training medical director Dr Anand Patel added: “It’s been a delight to know so many radiographers and allied health professionals have found these sessions useful over the years. With a significant number of trusts and health boards in the country having at least one person attend, I’m pleased we can encourage a multi-disciplinary approach and dispel some of the myths that we all, no matter what speciality, have about informatics in the clinical workplace.”
Training arranged as part of the informatics sessions designed by current chair of the SoR’s Radiographic Informatics Advisory Group Alexander Peck includes the introductory one-day Fundamentals of Radiology IT for radiographers and AHPs, the two-day intermediate and three-day advanced HL7+DICOM training for PACS teams, plus other shorter courses in radiology department legal issues, GDPR compliance and the use of radiology-specific technical standards XDS and IHE. Locations for the training have varied from being held in inner-city trust boardrooms to studios overlooking the Jersey and Guernsey shorelines over the years.
Because of high demand, extra places for radiographers have been added to the upcoming 1 June 2025 pre-UKIO Fundamentals of Radiology IT session in Liverpool. Further details are available at www.learnpacs.com
PACS team members or radiographers further into their PACS career can attend the intermediate sessions starting on 31 May. Find out more at www.learnpacs.com/level2
Jane Cremer (A&E superintendent radiographer at the Royal Free Hospital - 1,000th Attendee)
Jane Cremer (A&E superintendent radiographer at the Royal Free Hospital - 1,000th Attendee)
Kathryn Whittle (radiographer, Wrightington Wigan and Leigh) - 2,500th Attendee)
Kathryn Whittle (radiographer, Wrightington Wigan and Leigh) - 2,500th Attendee)
Belfast Training Group 2022 - the first return to in-person training post-COVID, held in Belfast NI.
Belfast Training Group 2022 - the first return to in-person training post-COVID, held in Belfast NI.
Katherine Scott (radiographer, Northampton General Hospital - 5,000th Attendee)
Katherine Scott (radiographer, Northampton General Hospital - 5,000th Attendee)
More from the SoR Radiographic Informatics Advisory Group (RIAG)
Alexander Peck is the author of the popular industry textbook Clark’s Essential PACS, RIS and Imaging Informatics (www.pacsbook.com). He is also the chair of the SoR Radiographic Informatics Advisory Group (previously the IM+T Advisory SIG).
Anant Patel is the SME Lead for integrations testing and the implementation of clinical safety / testing in informatics applications.
Alexander Peck, Anant Patel and Anand Patel are the authors of the upcoming Clark’s Complete Imaging Informatics textbook.
The fundamentals sessions are priced at around £50 for the day to keep them affordable for self-funding radiographers. Although the majority of the non-profit sessions have run in the UK, because of consistent high demand others have been held in person in Ireland, the Channel Islands, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Portugal. Sessions running in the UK have also been live-streamed to America, Canada and Malaysia.
Find out more about the work of RIAG here.
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