Psycho-Babble Social Thread 18918

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Crash course on Radiology

Posted by Gracie2 on February 25, 2002, at 22:12:47

This doesn't have anything to do with mental health but I'm so aggravated at this point, I'm spreading the news to everyone.
Believe it or not, untrained medical personnel are allowed to perform x-ray exams. This should be illegal but it's not. I've been working at a facility where nurses are allowed to take x-rays, and the resulting films are often appalling and are worthless as a diagnostic tool. Doctors cross-train medical aides and nurses to take x-rays because they do not wish to pay for a registered
technologist. As we all know, doctors are so poor that most of them are living in cardboard boxes on the street, and they couldn't possibly afford extra help.
As a result, they attempt to save money by "training" medical aides to perform inferior
x-ray exams. Because of the unacceptable quality of their x-rays, this constitutes poor patient care. Often it is necessary for a nurse to repeat their x-rays time after time, since they are not trained in radiologic science and have no clue as to how x-ray quality may be improved. They are also unaware of the procedures used to position a patient while causing a minimum of pain.
Hospitals almost never hire technologists that are not registered with the ARRT. The culprits are small family practices and private doctors' offices, with chiropractic doctors and podiatrists turning out the worst exams. I know that some people swear by their chiropractors, but it's unwise to succumb to an x-ray exam in their office with their ancient equipment and untrained personnel.

While a few x-rays with state-of-the-art equipment and trained radiographers will not put a patient at risk, some patients are in a high-risk category. Anyone who needs x-rays on a regular basis to moniter their condition must have a trained technologist to minimize those risks, particularly for small children. A baby suffering from CDH (congenital hip dysplasia) requires a series of x-rays to moniter the helpfulness of the brace or spica cast being used in an attempt to correct their displaced hips. At Shriners, our routine was to take a single x-ray with no shield to make sure that the shield did not cover an underlying condition, such as a tumor or bone damage. After this first x-ray, we were required to shield the gonads of all patients and if we neglected to do this, we could expect a royal ass-chewing from the chief surgeon.
Another patient at risk had scoliosis. We were under strict orders to shield both the gonads and use breast shields on females.
Ask your x-ray technologist if he is certified with the ARRT before your x-ray exam. A certified technologist will be proud to tell you so. An office-trained novice will spray you with ionizing radiation time after time, twist your broken limbs into unbearable positions, and possibly produce an x-ray that is completely undiagnostic. You pay a lot of money for your medical care and you deserve better.
-Gracie

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