By Gill Harrison, Committee Rep for SCoR

An Unexpected Presentation in Chile

In December 2017, I had organised an extended holiday; planning to be away for my birthday (for a change it didn’t clash with the BMUS conference), Christmas and New Year. I intended to switch off from work and anything ultrasound related. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) that wasn’t to be. I hadn’t factored in that Marcelo, a Chilean Medical Technologist (Radiographer), whom I met at the European Congress of Radiology (ECR) in Vienna in March 2017, would have a much better memory than me and remember that I was planning a trip to his country later that same year. After Marcelo contacted me about meeting up, my plans for catching up over a coffee or glass of Chilean red wine were put in a spin. Could I talk to some medical technologists? Why not! A few e-mails later it became apparent that it was not just a quick talk, they wanted a one-hour presentation on the UK perspective of independent reporting sonographers, so who am I to resist the challenge. I didn’t think about the packing, when I agreed to the talk. I was travelling light and journeying pretty much the whole length of Chile by plane, local buses, coaches and a tiny boat so business wear was not part of the packing list! So, a summer dress that could be squashed down and bounce back, a pair of sandals and two mini Christmas cakes (gifts for Marcelo and Veronica) were secreted into the luggage and off we flew.

On the 18^th December, 2017 I found myself in a hotel conference room in Santiago with an audience of about 40 or so people, mostly medical technologists, students, a few radiologists and a translator. Marcelo did an introduction and set the scene. The public health service in Chile was in crisis, the delays for imaging would make any NHS wait seem like a ‘drop in’ same day service. During Marcelo’s introduction two people arrived and walked purposefully to the front of the room and sat down. Next-up was me. I had an hour to convince the room that in the UK we have a safe, effective ultrasound service staffed by teams of sonographers, radiologists and other health care professionals. I talked about sonographer education, the role of CASE in ensuring the quality of both academic and clinical education and shared some of the evidence to demonstrate that the service was effective, and sonographers were capable of safe, timely, independent reporting.

The presenation day -

taking my mind off things to begin with

Before I went out to Chile, I had discussed the presentation with Hazel Edwards, who had also met Marcelo at ECR. During this brainstorming session, whilst thinking of ways to make an interpreter translated session interactive, we considered a SWOT analysis. So half way through my presentation, Marcelo and I split the room into groups to look at the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of sonographer reporting in Chile. Whilst the groups were in discussion, I was introduced to the two people who arrived during Marcelo’s introduction. It was Emilio Santelices, the new Chilean Health Minister and Karla Rubilar, Mayor of the Metropolitan and Medical Region. We discussed the evidence they would need to convince radiologists that medical technologists could provide an effective service. This led nicely into the second part of the presentation, which was about how to make change happen, by providing local evidence of audit outcomes. There were plenty of questions at the end of the session, before some the audience had to leave for their long journeys home. The younger &/or more local technologists adjourned to the top floor of the hotel to sample the Chilean hospitality on the roof top bar, admire the views and continue discussions well into the night.