10 CARE OF PATIENT IN DIAGNOSTIC RADIOGRAPHY

is in overall charge of the nursing staff, and that each ward and some of
the special such as casualty and out-patients' are in the
departments
charge of In administration the matron will have the help of
a sister.
deputy and assistant matrons, while the ward sisters will have the help of
their senior staff nurses. Less well-known perhaps will be the function
of the house governor or secretary of the hospital, but it will soon be
appreciated that he is in charge of hospital staff other than the nursing
group.
On the medical side the highest authority is invested in consultant
physicians and consultant surgeons. These are all experienced and highly
qualified specialist doctors, each of whom is aided by a registrar (who
might be described as occupying the next lower rungs in the ladder), and
under the registrar a house physician or house surgeon, who is a young
doctor gaining experience in medicine or surgery.
The X-ray department has its own gradations of authority as the
The medical man in charge of the depart
student very quickly discovers.
ment is the consultant radiologist, whose specialist training qualifies
him to interpret X-ray films and conduct diagnostic X-ray examinations.
In a large department the radiologist who acts as the director will have
the assistance of other consultant radiologists and also a radiological
registrar, or perhaps several registrars. The radiographers, who are the
technical assistants of the radiologists, are in the charge of the superin
tendent radiographer. The superintendent will be aided by a deputy
superintendent and senior radiographers varying in number according
to the size and scope of the department. In the X-ray room the student
will be working as assistant to and under the supervision of a qualified
radiographer.
The work of those in authority first presents itself to the new student
in an aspect of control, perhaps even primarily in an aspect of veto. The
superintendent radiographer may be seen mainly as someone who says
what must or may not be done, and the radiologist may be seen as some
one who gives instructions for repeat examinations and additional films
without regard to the fact that you have enough work to do already.
It will be of help in understanding the reason for various restrictions
and rules of procedure in the department if some effort is made to
appreciate that these people who wield authority and direction, and to
whom we may be responsible, themselves carry responsibility and are
responsible to others. The superintendent radiographer is responsible to
the consultant radiologist for the smooth and efficient running of the
department, the maintenance of a good standard of radiographic technique,