York conference adds to GCU experience for part-time students

Two part-time Postgraduate students have been discussing their decision to study at GCU and recent attendance at the British Medical Ultrasound Society (BMUS) Conference.

Chelsea Mitchell and Jennifer McGrath started their journey on the MSc Ultrasound course in September last year, combining their studies with their full-time Trainee Sonographers roles at NHS West Lothian.

Just two months after starting their degree, Chelsea and Jennifer were invited to volunteer at the BMUS Conference in York, providing them with the perfect opportunity to gain an insight into new areas of their profession.

We caught up with Chelsea and Jennifer to find out more:

How did you both come to study at GCU?

Jennifer: “My Undergraduate was in Neuroscience at University College Cork back in Ireland. I then came over to do Postgraduate in Radiography and worked for four and a half years at the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh. I’d always wanted to go into Ultrasound so coming to GCU was the next step on that journey.”

Chelsea: “I studied Radiography at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen and then went to Newcastle for a year before returning to Aberdeen for four years. I then went to Edinburgh for another two years and I was doing general CT (Computerised Tomography), cardio and interventional radiology. I’d been doing that for five years and just fancied a change, which led to me getting the training post here which funds our degree at GCU.”

So coming to GCU was basically an added bonus of the job?

Jennifer: “Definitely! We work Monday to Friday 8am to 4pm and then come to university whenever we’re required. NHS funded training posts are difficult to come by, so it was a tough interview process – we were really lucky to get it.

“It’s been really good for us to study at GCU on the MSc Medical Ultrasound programme. We don’t get to spend that much time on campus, there’s a lot of online learning. It’s quite a small class group, there’s probably about 12 of us, which is nice. People drop-off at different points because you just have to complete specific modules. We’ve also had the opportunity to meet Elaine Gardiner (MSc Medical Ultrasound Programme Lead) quite a few times – that’s been really good for our development.”

How did the opportunity to attend the BMUS conference come about? 

Jennifer: “Our manager at work sent us a link to help out at the conference as volunteers. We also did modelling for scans as well. It meant we had the opportunity to go and didn’t have to pay the fee to attend. We’d obviously just started on the course, so it was brilliant for us to actually see what it was all like. We spent three days there and got the chance to go to different talks in-between times, it was amazing to hear from people at the top of our profession discuss such advanced topics.”

Chelsea: “The talks were so varied as well. We’re just doing obstetrics (pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum) and gynaecology (treatment of women’s diseases), but there was so many different things on offer. There was lots of positive discussion around LGBT-related matters, which is obviously a massive topic just now and something we’ll come across throughout our careers.

“It was also particularly interesting to hear about the role of Artificial Intelligence. They were talking about baby scans, how we could scan the patient and then how the AI programme would pick up the length of the femur and the head circumference. It was interesting to see where it could go and find out more about how it can help benefit our career in future.”

Were there professionals from a variety of backgrounds in attendance?

Jennifer: “Basically anyone that uses ultrasound was there! We met sonographers, radiographers, gynaecologists, and there were also private companies selling their equipment. It was quite interesting to see demonstrations of the different machines. There was also a section featuring research from different organisations across the UK.

“We got the chance to sit in as the models for demonstrations using the ultrasound equipment, which was a really good experience for us. The people leading the sessions were far more experienced than us and it gave us an insight into stuff we’re not currently trained on, like head, neck and upper limb scans.”

Chelsea: “Jenny and I are the only ones that are training in our hospital, so you don’t really know how everyone else is getting on, so it was nice to see these other people getting the chance to actually learn – it was very reassuring.”

Did you get the chance to explore York as well?

Jennifer: “We got to go to the Christmas markets which was lovely. We actually managed to have quite a lot of free time in the evening, so it was good to get out and explore.”

Chelsea: “We met with other volunteers at our hotel which was a good way for us to socialise. There was a lot of students there too, so it was nice to hear their thoughts and spend some time with them.”

Has this been a beneficial experience at this point in your career?

Chelsea: “I think it was really interesting to see the different paths we can go on in future with ultrasound and witness the improvements being made across our profession.

“It’s nice to see that our work is going to make such a difference to patients further down the line. At this point it’s all about striving towards learning and improving – the event really did that for us.” 

Would you encourage students to attend events like this?

Jennifer: “Absolutely! We got to meet people at different stages in their training and it was good for us to hear from other people who maybe have the same fears and worries in terms of not knowing what they’re doing around specific areas.

“It’s always good to speak to others to hear what their training is like and find out that we all work in different ways while balancing different priorities. I would definitely recommend this sort of things to others.”

Chelsea: “It’s also really beneficial to have that opportunity to learn in a different environment. Not everyone is suited to sitting at a laptop listening to lectures so to actually get out there was a major bonus from my perspective. It was great for me – I’ve definitely taken a huge amount from it.”

Find out more about GCU's MSc Medical Ultrasound course here

By Ross Clark      
Got an SHLS or GSBS story? Email me at Ross.Clark@gcu.ac.uk or message me on Twitter