MAMMOGRAPHY TECHNOLOGISTS: Do we have a distinct personality?

OBJECTIVES:

Mammographers; who are we? Do we have a distinct professional profile? Breast centers across North America are opening so fast it is hard to know just how many mammographers there really are and how many of us are really happy and fulfilled. One thing is becoming increasingly clear however, there are now enough of us to become a potential force for change. In order to affect our environment we must become aware of who we are, what we need, and what it takes to get what we need.

As breast imagers, we enjoy the most fundamental and individual relationships with the patient. We have, perhaps, the greatest opportunity of all the breast disease team to affect a woman’s decision to return for further screening or follow-up. Our work is often stressful and tedious, but
it must be performed with the same exacting accuracy and commitment to excellence every time.

In a comprehensive series of interviews and research a study out of California indicates that dedicated, longtime mammographers share similar satisfactions, dissatisfactions and requirements. To know ourselves we must understand what makes us tick.

What Do We Feel Gives Us Satisfaction On The Job?

• We believe we provide an invaluable, lifesaving service.

• We feel that we can change people’s attitudes and affect their prejudices by
  providing essential patient education.

• We want to help and support people in their most frightening and difficult time.

• We know that we are skilled professionals who must achieve a high level of mastery.

• We enjoy being part of an integrated team of mutually respectful professionals.

• We want to, and feel we do make a difference!

• Our contribution makes us feel worthwhile.
  

• We strive to, and consider we do create quality, helpful relationships with our patients.

What Causes Us Frustration On The Job?

• Not feeling respected or recognized for the service we provide.

• Not being valued by the rest of the medical hierarchy as true professionals.

• Experiencing the pressure of doing a highly stressful, often repetitive, meticulous job day after day with little encouragement.

• Carrying out important examinations that require some discomfort for our patients

• Being depicted as mean or uncaring by patients and co-workers because of the nature of our work.

• Having inadequate time with each patient.

• Constantly working and dealing with anxious, stressed and ill patients.

• Not being granted the status or respect corresponding with the level and amount of our education and training.

• Receiving inadequate compensation.

• Not being given adequate opportunity to teach and inform our patients about breast health.

• Having inadequate psychological training to deal with difficult, non-communicative or frightened patients.

• Not being supported in obtaining on-going training and education.

• Being constantly caught in the crossfire between; “Speed” vs. “Quality.”

• Not being allowed to submit informed suggestions concerning our images and our patient’s care and condition.

What Do We Feel We Need to Achieve Job Satisfaction?

• Receive adequate training and education on handling difficult patients

• Receive adequate management and life skills education to deal with colleagues and superiors with tact and effectiveness.

• Receive mandates and funding for all pertinent continuing education.

• Be granted enough time and freedom to do a complete and quality job.

• Be given quality guidance and feedback from medical colleagues and administration.

• Attain respect and recognition.
  

• Obtain adequate compensation commensurate with the level of education and skill required for the specialty.

• Get organized as a group in order to speak out and be heard.

• Be offered access to support groups to help dissipate occupational tensions.

• Garner more trust and greater responsibility in accordance with our educational level.

SUMMARY

We see ourselves as far more than just ‘BUTTON-PUSHERS’. We form critical liaisons with our patients. We empower them to form loyalties to their own bodies and to pay attention to their breast health.

We are meticulous in our task. We are tireless in producing the clearest sharpest most inclusive images. We seek out and use our knowledge to assist our patients, the radiologists, surgeons and pathologists to achieve the best outcome possible. Empowering us with the respect, training and responsibilities we deserve is cost effective both financially and in terms of lives saved.

Embrace your joys, understand and cope with your distresses and make your needs known and understood and, always, continue fight the good fight!