Identifying Personal Strengths and Weaknesses - Essay Example

I have the strength of working in a very confident manner that is free of all forms of doubts and skepticism in my decision-making. Because of this, I have always made decisions with boldness, precision, and accuracy. As a result of the way and manner in which I approach my work with much confidence, my clients have always had trust in my ability to deliver, which is a very important tool for ensuring that I deliver up to the expected standards for my clients. Equally so is the confidence and trust that my co-workers and superiors have in me. Finally, I have shown great strength in my knowledge of general x-ray procedures, which has affected the output of my work very positively.

Weakness

The strengths notwithstanding, there are weaknesses that I find with the delivery of my work and my general interaction with others. Some of these weaknesses are listed as follows:

1- Lack of knowledge of protocols in specialist procedures such as fluoroscopy

2- Difficulties in understanding the Scottish accent

3- Easily get stressed when there is a heavy workload

4- Lack of knowledge of pathology and how it can show in an x-ray image

In the delivery of my work, there are very specific procedures such as fluoroscopy that I have not effectively mastered. My communication with some lines of people is also affected by my difficulty in understanding their accents. Very often also, I have overworked myself, causing me to be stressed. Lastly, I do not have in-depth knowledge of the area of pathology. These weaknesses are actually guidelines for me as to how I need to develop my action plan for the future to function more effectively. This is because I realize that if I am able to overcome these weaknesses and turn them into strengths, I shall become more useful at work.

Focusing area

As important as it is for my work on all my identified weaknesses, I believe that taking this one at a time will be much helpful for me. For this reason, I have a focus area that I want to start with. This focus area has to do with developing my knowledge of pathology. I have selected this as my focus area due to the direct influence and linkage it has on my professional practice. 

With my work in x-ray procedures and radiography in general, I find the development of my knowledge in pathology as a crucial requirement that will ensure that I have a total understanding of my patients and their health situations. Clearly having a better understanding of the overall health structure of a patient helps in giving quality healthcare to the patient. As pathology deals with “the examination of organs, tissues, and bodily fluids in order to make a diagnosis of disease” (Mandal, 2014), it mastering my knowledge in it will really help me in achieving my professional goals.

Ideal Situation

Because pathology is a very broad area of academic and professional study, there is a more specific way I want to develop my knowledge in the area and this makes up my ideal situation. In my case, my ideal situation is to find out more about the pathologies and abnormalities which can be shown in an x-ray. By implication, having the in-depth knowledge to interpret the results of X-rays as to how they affect the overall well-being of the patient is the ideal situation I want to find myself in. Once this ideal situation is achieved, I will be better placed to understand the principles of pathology that relate to imaging science and the radiographic appearance of specific diseases and processes within the entire human system (Mosby, 2014).

Steps to Success

 There are two major ways in which I am seeking to accomplish success in my ideal situation. Most of the ways are based on personal or self-tuition, which has to do with reading. In the first instance, I plan on reading ‘Bones and Joins’. I am confident that doing this in a very effective way will help in deepening my understanding and knowledge of anatomy and general pathology. I also have plans of reading more about pathologies and abnormalities that can be shown in x-ray images. This way, I will be better placed to understand how pathologies and abnormalities can be manifested on x-ray images. I have selected self-tuition as I find it to be more convenient for me as I would have to combine the acquisition of these skills with my daily professional responsibilities and routines. It is therefore important that the learning process will happen at times that best suit my daily schedules.

Reflection

Reflecting on my action plan, I would say that there are a lot of positive things about my action plan that makes it very achievable. In the first place, the action plan has been constructed to be as practical and realistic as possible. This is because things have been taken one at a time without the need to rush to overcome all my weaknesses at the same time. Whiles doing this, I have made room to ensure that the approach to success is one that meets my daily needs and schedules. This way, approaching the steps to success will not be a very difficult thing to do.