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Good Luck With That … Making Your Own Opportunities

2017; Elsevier BV; Volume: 49; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.jmir.2017.10.006

1939-8654

Kathryn Moran,

Patient Safety and Medication Errors

Have you ever had a great idea, wanted to try something new, or had a desire to step outside the daily boundaries of your career? Have you ever discussed your great plan with someone else and been told “good luck with that”? In my medical radiation technologist (MRT) career, I have heard this many times, whether it is from friends, colleagues, or leadership. This statement can be taken as defeatist; good luck with that, you know there is no extra time, there is no additional funding, good luck with getting buy-in, and it will never work. Or sometimes the sentiment is simply a positive blessing; “good luck with that” might be all that someone has to give to you. Regardless, this sentiment is simply an echo of an all-too real, squeezed health care system that we each work within and the pressures that are put on staff at all levels, from frontline to senior leadership, to continually do more with less. Although the sentiment is likely not meant to cause harm, the receiver of the message may feel defeated or develop a “why bother” attitude. A defeatist attitude is one of many barriers to MRT-driven research. In this commentary, a few other barriers are explored as well. One of my colleagues surveyed the Radiation Therapists from two centers in Nova Scotia, Canada, regarding perceived barriers to doing research. I compiled a few themes from the open-ended comments (Figures 1 and 2)•Lack of time: general staffing pressures to attend meetings, time to complete work, accessing time with resources (equipment/personnel), or time to present or promote findings.•Lack of support: supportive management/co-workers, finding a co-author/mentor/supervisor.•Lack of funding: money to support the project/presentation/promotion or publication.•Lack of recognition: the feeling that “my effort won't get me anywhere.”•Lack of experience: a lack of comfort and feelings of not knowing where to get started.•Lack of opportunity: a scarcity of opportunities, the feeling that the same people get chosen, favoritism, and not knowing about opportunities until they are over.Figure 2Barriers to research indicated by radiation therapists.View Large Image Figure ViewerDownload Hi-res image Download (PPT) Look at this list of barriers. It is no wonder that so many of us may feel apprehensive about beginning or maintaining MRT-driven research or expanded or advance practice roles. These barriers are very real and can be challenging. I do not have any control over our departmental budget nor can I magically create more time or will the people around me into being more supportive. However, what does strike me in this list is the barrier of opportunities. This is where we come to the second part of the title, “making your own opportunities.” I want to challenge each of us to think about opportunities differently. I challenge that when you change your mindset about opportunities, you will find that you may begin to personally overcome many of these other barriers of time, money, and support. I challenge you to think of opportunities not as a limited bank of ideas or circumstances sitting in the hands of your leadership team and being doled out to the people around you. Although this might be true in some cases, let us not spend our time and energy waiting in line with our hands up. Begin thinking of opportunities as limitless, something that you are in control of and can create and manifest for yourself. Opportunity is not a pie that once divided up is gone, there is more than enough for everyone if we begin to make our own. In my experience, if you start small, opportunities will build more opportunities. Through this process you will gain experience, find your supporters, learn time management, discover where pockets of funding might be, and learn how to access the limited resources. By changing how you think about opportunities, you will begin to overcome your perceived barriers. So how do we begin to change our mindset on opportunities? Where do we start? My passion outside of work is dancing, and I once came across a beautiful image of a poised, graceful dancer with a quote credited to H. Jackson Brown, “opportunity dances with those already on the dance floor.” For me, this became the fundamental key and the first step toward making my MRT career self-fulfilling. Opportunities are not going to present themselves if you are not already engaged, if your eyes and ears are not already open to the possibilities around you, or if you are not already on that dance floor. The image of the dancer looked poised and regal. She clearly had it together, she was experienced, she was comfortable, and opportunities were ready to dance with her. Regarding MRT-driven research and stepping out onto the dance floor for the first time, I tended to feel more like the comedic actress Lucille Ball in her ballet school skit. Go ahead and do an Internet search for these images, you will very quickly understand what it felt like for me to get on the dance floor of MRT-driven research. The point is, I may have been apprehensive, uncomfortable, and uncertain of my direction, but I got myself on that dance floor. When I did, opportunities expanded all around me. Once you are brave enough to get yourself on that dance floor, what do you do next? There are numerous blogs and references to making opportunities happen [1“Create Your Own Opportunities,” Ian Christie, Monster Contributing Writer, Monster Worldwide Inc, 2017. Available at: www.monster.com/career-advice/article/create-opportunities.Google Scholar, 2“The best opportunities are the ones you create for yourself” Tanner Christensen, 2017. Available at: www.99u.com/workbook/42481/the-best-opportunities-are-the-ones-you-create-for-yourself.Google Scholar, 3“How to create opportunities for yourself” Mike Fishbein, 2017. Available at: www.mfishbein.com/create-opportunities.Google Scholar], and the following is a list that I compiled from several sources that speak to me as an MRT.•Take charge of your own career•Take even light risks•Toss many balls in the air and see what floats•Know your skills, values, strengths, and weaknesses•Take your ideas, imagination and constantly push to evolve them•Be visible•Embrace a spirit of adventure•Have initiative and drive•Have courage, resiliency, and flexibility•Take note of who you surround yourself with Christie goes on to describe three steps to making your own opportunities [[1]“Create Your Own Opportunities,” Ian Christie, Monster Contributing Writer, Monster Worldwide Inc, 2017. Available at: www.monster.com/career-advice/article/create-opportunities.Google Scholar]:•Step 1: Find your niche•Step 2: Become a Guru•Step 3: Give in order to receive In the world of MRTs, finding your niche is about looking at all the aspects of what we do and discovering what it is that makes you special. What additional skills do you bring to the table, what excites you, or frustrates you, what do you wish to change? I currently have two niches that I have been exploring—quality improvement and applications of three-dimensional printing in radiation oncology. Both niches I discovered in different ways. For quality improvement, as a new grad, I was asked to fill a seat on the workplace safety committee. I had no experience and had no idea what I was getting myself into, but I grabbed my tutu and got on the dance floor. Within this committee, I was able to discover that I could use my organizational and interpersonal skills to affect small changes. Over the years, I was able to cultivate my skills for looking both at the big picture and drilling down to uncover root causes. In addition, I enjoyed bringing groups of individuals/departments together to solve problems. Through my quality improvement journey, many opportunities expanded around me that have included departmental risk mitigation, conference planning, participation in the National System for Incident Reporting-Radiation Therapy [[4]Milosevic M. Angers C. Liszewski B. et al.The Canadian National System for Incident Reporting in Radiation Treatment (NSIR-RT) Taxonomy.Pract Radiat Oncol. 2016; 6Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF Scopus (16) Google Scholar], and participation in facility expansion, re-design, and renovation. My three-dimensional printing niche began very differently. My love for integrating three-dimensional printing into radiation oncology did not come from a unique set of, or cultivated skills, but rather a complete disdain for the status quo. I have never liked how bolusing materials in radiation oncology looked, felt, or fit. My three-dimensional printing niche was born out of sheer frustration, a desire for change, and a fortuitous conversation with a member of leadership from another discipline who is a seasoned researcher and mentor. My three-dimensional printing journey has led to opportunities such as research and publication [5Zhao Y. Moran K. Yewondwossen M. et al.Clinical applications of three-dimensional printing in radiation therapy.Med Dosim. 2017; 42: 150-155Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (57) Google Scholar, 6Su S. Moran K. Robar J. Design and production of 3D printed bolus for electron radiation therapy.J Appl Clin Med Phys. 2014; 15: 4831Crossref PubMed Scopus (102) Google Scholar] and the ability to lend service to a local start-up company, 3D Bolus Inc. In finding your niche, it is very important that you be honest with yourself and know your strengths and limitations. Although I may have a passion for dancing, I am not the most creative or artistic person on the block. It would be inappropriate for me to take on project like the painting of our pediatric casts. Do not look at the other MRTs in your department and wish you could have done this project or had that opportunity; you may be uniquely qualified or built to do something completely different. Instead, in these circumstances where I might be passionate, but lack the necessary skills, I can become the supporter to those intensely creative therapists. We should all explore our own niches, but it is imperative that we each be a supporter of others as well. Helping another MRT be successful will not diminish your chances of success. Being a supporter can even cross departments or centers. I have amazing co-workers who have supported my endeavors, but I also have supporters from other disciplines, departments, and even from other centers. Being a supporter and building relationships can help overcome some of the other barriers we mentioned, such as finding mentors and gaining experience. Regardless of how you find or stumble upon your niche, according to Christie, step 2 requires you to become the guru [[1]“Create Your Own Opportunities,” Ian Christie, Monster Contributing Writer, Monster Worldwide Inc, 2017. Available at: www.monster.com/career-advice/article/create-opportunities.Google Scholar]. Be the expert in whatever it is that excites or frustrates you. Know everything about the problem you wish to solve. Finally, step 3 cautions that you will need to give in order to receive. This echoes back to the barriers of time, money, and lack of recognition [[1]“Create Your Own Opportunities,” Ian Christie, Monster Contributing Writer, Monster Worldwide Inc, 2017. Available at: www.monster.com/career-advice/article/create-opportunities.Google Scholar]. If you really want to step outside of your day-to-day work, if you really want to get involved in research or other activities, you will need to give various levels and amounts of your own time and, possibly, money. This is especially true when you first begin to get your feet on that dance floor, and as you begin to grow. Whether it is writing proposals, papers, posters or presentations, or doing active research, be prepared to give more than you receive. In my quality improvement journey, some of my successes are in future risk mitigation, and will likely go unnoticed. That's really not a bad thing. For 3D printing, I have spent countless hours of my own time dedicated to this project. One such activity was to figure out how to make realistic patient phantoms. My first time making a ballistics gel phantom resulted in hot liquid gel spilling all over my hardwood floors. If you truly found your niche, it will be your passion that sustains you during these possibly trying times. Find your niche, explore your passion, and build your own journey. It does not matter if right now your tutu is dragging on the floor and you can barely reach that ballet bar, one day you will. Everyone needs to start somewhere; you just need to take that first step onto the dance floor. And for those seasoned MRTs who have been engaged in research, expanded and advanced practice roles, or those members of leadership who might be reading this, remember that there are first timers out there who are watching, possibly afraid to get started or who might be feeling self-conscious and vulnerable on that dance floor. Be supportive, compassionate mentors. Show us a few moves or take us to a dance. Remember, opportunities are not a pie; there is enough for each of us. Helping another person will not diminish, but will only enhance your own potential for opportunities. So good luck everyone, I hope to see you on that MRT dance floor! Acknowledgements: The author would like to thank Carol-Anne Davis RTT, ACT, MSc, FCAMRT, clinical educator for the Nova Scotia Cancer Care Program and lecturer for the Dalhousie University Department of Radiation Oncology, for granting access to her research on perceived barriers to radiation therapist driven research. Ethics approval: Not required. Letter to the EditorJournal of Medical Imaging and Radiation SciencesVol. 49Issue 4PreviewRe: Cancelliere, N, Hilario, K. How we found purpose, passion, and happiness in our profession. J Med Imaging Radiat Sci 2018; 49 (3);228–231. Full-Text PDF