Hello everyone,
Christmas already, where did the rest of the year go? According to Gordon Murray of Trumptonshire fame (https://youtu.be/N-hQ6-biWoo), time flies by when you’re the driver of a train (unless they’re on strike). This is also true when there’s a lot going on and there’s a lot going on in the Institute at the moment which may explain why we’re rushing full-tilt towards the end of the year.
First of all, as I’m often telling you, IMI is run entirely by volunteers and there are many roles to help spread the load, so loads of opportunities to get involved and, at the moment, we have a few vacancies:
Regional Reps are required for Wales and the Southwest (x2), London and the South east (x1 to work with Brenda Asante), and the East Coast (x1 to work with Jackie Kelly). Adverts will appear on the website shortly, please feel free to put your name forward and help rejuvenate regional activity but if you can’t wait for the ads then please contact me chairman@imi.org.uk.
Fancy taking part in something highbrow? Join the VISCOMM team as a member of the editorial board and be part of our peer-reviewed, widely-read journal. Follow this link for further details and role descriptions
https://www.imi.org.uk/news/journal-of-visual-communication-in-medicine-recruitment/.
We are waiting to post out this year’s Awards Catalogue, but we’ve been waiting until the membership database is as up-to-date as it can be. To some extent, this relies on you logging on and making sure your contact details are current so please do this as soon as you get a chance and we’ll get the Awards Catalogue out to you as soon as we can.
Did you miss the online event the other week? Never fear, follow this link and you’ll be able to catch the three presentations and the professional discussion, all of which are well worth watching, https://www.imi.org.uk/account/digital-learning/autumn-online-22/.
One of the subjects of the professional discussions was around the use of mobile devices and apps and the IMI training module (which covers clinical and information governance issues around the use of mobile devices, essential attributes which make an app safe, and how to use mobile devices to take clinical photographs) is undergoing final tweaks before being released so watch out for further news on this over the next few weeks.
Similarly, videos promoting the profession as a career are also in the final edit stage and will be available on the website shortly. These should be in time to help the University of Gloucester promote the new degree in Healthcare Science (Clinical Photography) which begins in September 2023. These videos, along with more, careers leaflets and banners, will be available to help promote Healthcare Science week which take place from 13th to the 19th March 2023.
Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW) is working hard to finalise the details of their new Clinical Photography work based learning qualification which, like the Gloucester course, will take its first cohort in September next year. There have been a number of stakeholder meetings with more to come in the New Year and we’ll keep you posted as further details of the course become available.
I mentioned Regional Reps earlier and our eagerness to restart regional activity. Well it is already underway as Erin Lynskey and Holly Benton have organised a meeting for the evening of 11th January in Birmingham. Sponsored by Schuco it promises to be an informative session with refreshments provided in case you’ve not had enough over the Christmas period. Follow this link for further details.
https://www.imi.org.uk/events/midlands-regional-meeting/.
All of which, brings me neatly back to Christmas and where I started. It’s been a busy year for many of you and not without its share of stress and hard work, so on behalf of myself, the Officers and Council I’d like to wish you all a Happy Christmas. I hope you all manage to have some time to relax and recover over the next couple of weeks.
One more thing, thank you to everyone who has contributed in whatever way to the Institute this year. It’s been busy and productive and I’m hoping the next year will carry on in the same direction.
Best wishes and Happy Christmas,
Nick