30 November 2025
Would you know what to do if your patient began to deteriorate? In this episode of RadPod Steve Lacey talks to paramedic and former radiographer Scott Cooper, about his new training course on managing patient deterioration.
RadPod is available on Spotify, Apple podcasts, YouTube, and most other podcast platforms.
Scott explains that managing patient deterioration involves simple observations that anyone can make - even on days that you're swamped with back-to-back patients. Crucially, Scott says his training is applicable to a very small cohort of patients.
"If your patient's happy, laughing, fit, chatting away to you, there's nothing to do. But maybe if the patient's coughing, or wincing, or just looking uncomfortable, that would be the time you'd interject and say - hey, what's going on for you, do you mind if I take your pulse or check your blood pressure?"
Recognising and responding to patient deterioration will be part of the new MRPBA Professional Capabilities for Medical Radiation Practitioners coming into effect in March 2026. Other changes include managing anaphylaxis and responding to domestic and family violence.
