Transitioning into the workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic: Understanding the experiences of student diagnostic radiographers.

INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 pandemic, with associated pressures on healthcare services and workforce, had implications for final year Diagnostic Radiography students completing their training and transitioning into employment. The aim of this study was to explore their experience as novice practitioners starting work and integrating into the workforce during a time of national crisis. METHODS: Five early career Diagnostic Radiographers, eligible to join the temporary HCPC register, were recruited. One to one interviews were completed online exploring their thoughts, feelings and experiences. Participants had the option of using photographs to aid communication. RESULTS: Interviews were transcribed, emerging themes identified and coded. Four main themes emerged specifically related to the COVID-19 pandemic, (i) perceived challenges associated with joining the workforce, (ii) managing expectations and unexpected outcomes during transition, (iii) adapting to changes in systems and structures, (iv) sense of uncertainty relating to professional identity. The impacts were experienced beyond the work environment into social and personal lives. Participants demonstrated resilience as they adapted to their shifting lives and drew on the support of clinical colleagues and University academics for help. They did report feelings of concern and anxiety. The participants all expressed a sense of feeling valued and supported in their new roles. CONCLUSION: The Pandemic was unprecedented and created uncertainty in terms of workforce requirements. This study highlights the personal impact and professional responses of novice practitioners, who felt a sense of duty and care to help support the NHS and others. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: This will help in the understanding of the transition of student into employment and what wider support needs to be in place prior, during and after this phase.

Social and biological risk factors threaten hispanics/latinos with type 2 diabetes, now at risk for covid-19

Hispanics/Latinos have disproportionately poor health outcomes from type 2 diabetes (T2D) and now emerging health threats like COVID-19. Mil Familias is a longitudinal observational cohort study enrolling Hispanic/Latino families with T2D, building a unique real-world dataset of genetic, biological, behavioral, psychosocial, and environmental determinants of health. This analysis showed that this cohort has biological and social risk factors for poor health outcomes from diabetes and emerging health threats. Interim analyses were conducted on the first 158 enrollees (64% female, age 57.6 years, 129 with T2D). In T2D subjects, sub-optimal glycemic control, obesity and uncontrolled blood pressure were common, increasing risk from T2D and COVID-19. Further, validated assessments of social determinants of health reveal inadequate health insurance coverage and low levels of: income, educational attainment, acculturation, trust in physicians, and confidence in their literacy-numeracy skills. Hispanic/Latino adults, especially women, with T2D in the Mil Familias cohort have a cluster of social as well as biological risk factors that make them vulnerable from T2D and new threats like COVID-19. The novel Mil Familias dataset sheds timely light on important social as well as biological risk factors for both communicable and non-communicable disease.