Taster week
How to arrange and use a Radiology taster week
A useful taster does two jobs: it lets you test whether you actually enjoy Radiology, and it gives you specific evidence for commitment-to-specialty and interview answers. The practical aim is breadth, active observation and proper documentation — not five days sitting silently behind one workstation.
Start with the right person
Arranging the placement
Contact your local Radiology department's education lead, college tutor, training programme team or a consultant with an education role. If you are a Foundation doctor, your educational supervisor or postgraduate centre may already know the local taster process. Make the request easy to answer: state your grade, preferred dates, how many days you need and what you hope to see.
Aim for at least three whole-day equivalents
2027 commitment criterion
The published 2027 portfolio framework defines significant exposure as at least three whole-day equivalents attached to a clinical Radiology department. A full working week can provide more breadth, but the scoring threshold is three whole-day equivalents.
Ask for a mixed timetable before you arrive
Suggested timetable
A good taster should sample the range of the specialty: acute/plain-film or CT reporting, CT/MRI workflow, ultrasound, an MDT and at least some patient-facing or procedural work. Add an IR list if possible. If the department has a strong local subspecialty, seeing that is useful too, but do not spend the entire placement in one niche.
Speak to trainees, not only consultants
Understand training as well as the consultant job
Consultants can explain the career and job plan; registrars can tell you what ST1 actually feels like — supervision, exams, ultrasound, on call, rotations and how quickly responsibility develops. Those conversations often give the most realistic material for a Why Radiology answer.
Watch clinical decisions, not just impressive scans
What to learn
Notice how requests are vetted, why one scan is prioritised over another, how protocols are chosen, how uncertainty is communicated, when a report triggers a phone call and what the radiologist contributes at MDT. Ask sensible questions between cases rather than trying to interpret every image yourself.
Leave with evidence before people forget
Evidence and reflection
Ask for a dated letter on headed paper confirming the department and exact duration of the placement. If you contributed to teaching, research or a project, get that documented separately. Keep a short reflection recording what surprised you, what appealed to you, what looked difficult and how the experience changed your understanding.
If you want a second exposure, make it different
Closing a commitment-to-specialty gap
For the 2027 top commitment category, multiple significant exposures must be meaningfully different. A second taster may count if it differs from the first — for example a tertiary-centre neuroradiology/IR exposure after a general DGH taster — but duplicating the same experience is poor portfolio strategy.
From understanding to practice
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