Monday, December 04, 2006

Top 10 Reasons to Date an X-ray Tech

1. We do our best work in the dark

2. We can see through your clothes

3. We know all the positions

4. We are well developed

5. The chemistry is always right

6. We know what buttons to push

7. We have all the right techniques

8. We know how to warm up a tube

9. We know how to get the best penetration


Thanks to Kristen from Kristen's Chronicles for the list.

Monday, November 27, 2006

New Rad Links


Radiology Ramblings

Dave's Places in Radiology

Dave's Radiology Student's Page


Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Happy TG

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday weekend with friends and family. Eat some extra turkey and cranberries for me! :-)

Saturday, November 18, 2006

Office Politics

Office Politics! Man, I hate that sh!t! Even though we don't work in an office, per se, the politics are there, none the less.

Generally, I try to stay out of office politics. People playing each other off each other, mini vendettas, gossip, grudges; they all seem to get in the way of actually working and doing a good job, but always seem to worm their way in anyway.

Since I've been at clinicals for almost 3 months now at 32 hours per week, people are starting to see me as a coworker rather than a lowly student. So as a consequence, I'm starting to get included in conversations about how so-and-so is a lazy worker and should be fired or how such-and-such is her fault. I prefer to work in a team-oriented atmosphere and I'm starting to realize that that idea might be a little naive, at least at my clinical site.

For the most part everyone puts on a happy face and works efficiently together, if not completely amicably. But once a person leaves the group, they usually start talking about him or her and how they would have done such-and-such differently. I quietly listen and keep my mouth shut. People have a right to vent, but when things get personal thats when I draw the line. I am not there to bad mouth people or talk about how the director sucks, I am there to learn and be taught so I stay as far away from the gossip circle as possible.

The thing that really bothers me is that they usually talk bad about a person who is just having a bad day or even someone who has screwed up just once and had to repeat an exam. So that starts me thinking, "My god, I repeat stuff all the time. What must they say about me, the idiot newbie student." But at the same time I tell myself "Hey I'm allowed to screw up from time to time. Thats why I'm here, to learn. Even if that means learning from my mistakes." So in short, I try not to include myself when the group starts gossiping, and just hope that whatever goes around about me is minimal in its personal attacks on my character. What else can I do, right?

Sunday, November 12, 2006

Tuesday, October 31, 2006


If you're a coffee-aholic like I am, these cartoons will brighten your day. If not, you still might like 'em! :-)

Coffee Cartoons

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Change of Color

The fall colors are just about at their peak right now in Flagstaff and the city and mountain are gorgeous.

Because of our local climate (i.e. high elevation and very little precipitation), there are very few deciduous type trees that thrive here. Pondarosa pine is the most common type of tree, but the next most common is the aspen.

I love aspens. Not only are they very aesthetically pleasing (at least in my opinion), they also make a wonderful quaking sound when the wind rustles the leaves. Hence the name "quaking aspen", I guess. In the fall, the green leaves turn to a bright yellow color that, as the fall light filters through them, fills the forest floor with a warm, buttery light that keeps you warm even when the air is cool.

Unfortunately it won't be long until the wind and snows come, knocking the foliage to the forest floor. Luckily, we took a hike last weekend and were able to get some great pictures of the leaves. So I'll shut up now and post some pretty pictures. I hope you enjoy them.

Saturday, October 14, 2006

Wet Roads, Traumas Arrive

I saw and participated in one of my first major traumas today. It was not a very uplifting experience.

The hospital I'm at for my clinicals is pretty small and most major traumas are automatically sent to Flagstaff or Phoenix since both cities have hospitals that are rated Trauma 1. But today they sent us one for reasons unknown to me.

It was an 18 year old man who had been in an MVA. The poor kid had hydroplaned on some wet asphalt slid off the road and was ejected from the car. He had head, neck and abdominal trauma and was in pretty bad shape. They called us for a stat portable chest and pelvis x-ray and would later do a CT scan of the head and neck areas.

It was amazing to watch the docs and nurses swarm around him, all of them doing their jobs with infinite efficiency. I attempted to do my part, namely x-raying the patient's chest and pelvis, in as timely manner as possible.

Upon visual inspection it was clear the kid was in pretty bad shape and once we got the CT scan there was no denying his condition. The head trauma he had sustained had caused a massive bleed in his brain and he was more than likely brain dead already.

At this point they transfered him to Flagstaff since my hospital doesn't have a very advanced neurology dept. The news of his condition hit me harder than I would have expected. I thought about how his family's life would be forever changed by the events of that day. I did my best to continue on during the day, x-raying patients and keeping a cheery demeanor with them. But I kept thinking about when the doctor would finally have to break the news to the kid's family that he was almost certainly brain dead and would most likely not survive for many more hours. How would I react if I were given the same news about my brother, mother or wife? There is no way to know how one will react until one is put into that situation and with any luck I will never have to find out how I would respond.

Friday, October 06, 2006

My First "Tipping" Experience

I had an interesting first experience today. One that most people will never get the opportunity to experience in their lives. I "tipped" a BE patient for the first time.

"Tipping" a patient is a nice way of saying that I inserted the tip of an enema tube into the patient's rectum and administered liquid barium sulfate into their colon. Nice huh?! I hope most of you never have to experience it.

And believe it or not the "tipping" part isn't the worst of it. In many patients the barium, and air that is added later, expands the colon and makes the patient feel like they are having horrible gas cramps. I have never had one myself, but from what the patients have been describing to me during the exam, I hope to never have to have one........or at least put off having one for many years!

BEs are often done in conjuction with or instead of a colonoscopy to look for problems in the large intestine like colon cancer, diverticula, polyps, ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease or even appendicitis. Most of your organs are not visible on standard x-rays, so in order to visualize the colon a radiopaque material (in this case barium sulfate) is used to coat the inner lining of the large intestine and then air is injected to expand the walls so all parts of the intestine are visible on the x-ray image or under fluoro examination.

BEs are a very common exam and provide the doctors with a lot of good information about the condition of the colon.

Truthfully, I had been dreading my first experience tipping a BE patient. In school the instructors always tell horror stories about techs being pooped on by elderly patients who have not been prepped properly or of patients being unable to hold in the barium and letting loose all over the table. But so far I have not seen this and, although I am sure it happens, I don't think these problems are very common.

I guess I was most concerned with the rather intimate aspect of actually tipping the patient for the first time, but everything went well in this case. I explained to her what I was going to do and made sure she was ready before I did anything. Another tech was there to make sure I did everything correctly.

I'm actually extremely relieved that my first time is over and that it went so well. I know that they wont all go so well, but at least I can always look back and remember that my first BE tipping went smoothly.

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

What are you Sinking about?

har dee har har!

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

HIV positive patient

I had my first HIV positive patient today. It was a little surreal. She didn't fit any of the stereotypes of what one might have for an HIV positive person. She was young, healthy-looking, well-spoken and polite. She seemed like your typical college-age women from anywhere in the US. She wasn't the one to tell us she was HIV positive (it was evident in her chart) and we didn't talk about it with her. All she needed done was a simple abdominal series and single view chest x-ray, so discussion of her condition was not warranted.

On a lighter note, I did my first shoulder x-ray today. Not too exciting but the pictures sure came out pretty. The shoulder is a really strange and complex joint and it's a wonder more people don't have problems with it. The patient needed both shoulders radiographed (he had been bucked off his horse a few days earlier). The tech I was with did the first one, showing me his techniques for positioning, and I positioned the patient for views of the other shoulder. Unfortunately, I couldn't comp this time because I have to do at least one exam with supervision before I can actually comp on it, but I'll be ready next time.

Camping trip to Lockett Meadow


Our camp site

Becky looking at the San Francisco Peaks from Lockett Meadow

Me at a pulloff on our way to Lockett Meadow

Becky holding an aspen leaf

View from Lockett Meadow the morning after we camped was frickin' cold!!!!!!



interesting plant

Becky holding some aspen branches

Saturday, September 30, 2006

the Good with the Bad









Wednesday, September 27, 2006

List of Stupids


- drop a box of frozen french fries on their foot
- jump off a swing
- slammed their elbow in the refridgerator door
- wiped out pulling a wheelie on their motorcycle
- got bumped in their recently operated on elbow by a waitress
- got pneumonia (Again, not so funny)

And my all time favorite...




Friday, September 22, 2006






Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Poor Little Guy







*all names have been changed to protect patient privacy.

Saturday, September 09, 2006

Swallow Study

Battlefield Radiography



Thursday, September 07, 2006


Today I had my first experience in surgery.






Wednesday, September 06, 2006

First Two Weeks








Tuesday, August 29, 2006

I Survived My First Day of Clinicals!!!!




Monday, August 28, 2006

bacon is the colour

No words, I have no words.
Portable Riding

Apparently portable x-ray units can be used for more than just making x-ray images! Look out!!

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

US lags

Ignorance is bliss.........for the ignorant. For the rest of us, it's just embarrassing.

Wow, one above Turkey. What an accomplishment. ugghhh!

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Virtual Surgery

Forget going to school for 12 years to become a doctor, who has the time?! Now YOU, yes YOU, can perform a complete knee replacement right in the comfort of your own home. Just click here to get started!

Monday, August 14, 2006

Clinical Site Visit

I took a tour of my clinical site on Friday. It seems like a nice place. Not terribly huge but busy none the less. I also met my clinical instructor, who seems nice. It didn't fill me with complete confidence when I heard she has never had a student before and also just started working at this hospital a few months ago, but she seems to know her stuff and has been appointed as interim director of the dept until they can hire a full time director, so she must have a lot of experience under her belt.

- good shift: 8am-430pm Tu-F
- medium size hospital
- friendly staff in rad dept (seems to be so far, anyway)
- experienced clinical instructor
- meal vouchers for students (YES, free food!)
- I will be able to experience several modalities (CT, MR, Ultrasound, Nuc Med, etc.)

- they still use film, no CR or DR, ugh!
- it's a one hour drive (65 miles) from my house in Flag, which I will have to drive twice a day, 4 days a week for 8 months
- outpatient rad is separate from in-patient rad dept.
- clinical instructor has not had a student before

These are some of the apparent pros and cons of my site, but I'm sure I will find more when I start clinicals in a few weeks. Notice there are more pros than cons, and the cons that are there I can certainly live with.

In other news, this morning I took my first final exam of this semester. It was the written exam in my positioning class. I blasted through it and only had a few answers I wasn't 100% sure of. And thanks to the power of the interweb, I already know my grade and I got 100%, 0 wrong. Not too bad. But then again, I studied my butt off last week, so it's not like I didn't earn it. It's nice to have it over with though and even nicer to know I aced it! We have our lab competencies tomorrow for positioning, in which we get 3 positions at random (out of the over 60 we learned this semester) and have to demonstrate them for the instructor. I think I'm ready but just to make sure I plan to spend a few hours going over all of them at the coffee shop (the perfect study environment, at least for me) later today.

Monday, August 07, 2006

ATV + 12 pack + 3am = Pain & Suffering

Below is a quote from an email I got from my wife, a nurse on an orthopedic floor of the hospital:

"Last night work kind of sucked. My patients were all nice, but I swear, the hallway I had was road rash alley. My patients were all males, between the ages of 27 and 39 and one was an ATV accident, 2 MVAs and the last guy was a bike vs. car, and he was the bike. He was hit from behind by a drunk driver going approx. 55 mph. Lucky to be alive. So they were all nice but my god, the dressing changes and pain medication, it just never ended. And just a fun fact: the ATV guy just had a birthday the previous night and decided to drink a 12-pack, get on his ATV at 3:00 in the morning, and of course crashed. Man, we were still picking pieces of glass and gravel out of him. Yuck. So just remember, DON'T drink your 12 pack and then ride your ATV, ok? I know it sounds crazy, but it isn't a good idea."

Thankfully she still has a sense of humor after seeing so much pain and injury. It never ceases to amaze me the patients she gets. They sure do make for interesting talk over dinner at the end of the day.

Sunday, August 06, 2006

X-ray images from Thulium

Here is an interesting video clip that was recently posted to a radiography forum. It was produced by the British Pathe Co. in the 1950's and talks about a battle-field "X-ray" unit, which uses a radioactive material called Thulium to make an x-ray image. The
image is formed on a Polaroid style film and presumably processed by the old
Polaroid camera method. Although called an "X-ray Unit" it actually uses Gamma rays to produce the image.

Thursday, August 03, 2006


Phewwwww! This week has been a bit of a killer. 4 exams, 3 of which were on pretty hard material and lots of it. So I haven't had much of a chance to post. Apologies.

Otherwise, not much interesting has been happening, schoolwise anyway. Just biding my time and letting the semester burn itself out. Next week is a review week for all of our classes, since the following week is Finals Week. Yippeeee (insert sarcasm here). 6 major exams in 5 days. Strike that! in 4 days since I am opting to take my Friday exam early so I can get up to Flagstaff a day early. My parents are coming to town for a visit, so I need some extra time to clean the apt before they get there.

Unfortunately, my wife has been called to jury duty selection next week. She is really hoping to get out of it and has put in a call to her brother, who is a paralegal, for suggestions on how to disavow herself of this "honor". I know they say its your civic duty and you are doing a service for the community, yada, yada, yada. But it couldn't have come at a more inconvenient time with our trip to San Francisco planned in a couple of weeks. I also don't have much faith in the "jury of your peers" method the American legal system uses either. If, God forbid, I ever find myself in court, I don't feel real comfortable having my fate decided by Billy Bob the mechanic or Martha the diner waitress. But, hey, that's me. I'm really hoping she can get out of it. I'm thinking the fact that she is a nurse will help, but we'll just have to wait and see.

I realize this post isn't too radiography-related, but there hasnt been much developing on that front lately. At least not much that is post-worthy. So just boring personal stuff about yours truely will have to do for now. Thanks for your patience.

Thursday, July 27, 2006

How It Works - CT Scanners

The next installment of my ongoing series called “How It Works” has to do with Computed Tomography, frequently referred to as CT imaging. Like conventional x-ray imaging, CT imaging uses x-rays to make images of the human body. However, CT imaging uses computers and a moving x-ray tube to obtain 3-dimenional, high-resolution, high-detail images of anatomical structures.


The CT scanner was developed and demonstrated by Godfrey Hounsfield, a British physicist working for EMI, Ltd. Originally developing the idea in 1967, the first working prototype was unveiled in 1972. Atkinson Morley's Hospital in Wimbledon, England was the first institution to use a CT scanner to scan a patient. The first CT scanner sold in the US was to Massachusetts General Hospital and George Washington University for $390,000.

CT Technology

The first CT scanners were very limited in their applications compared to those used today. Primarily used to scan the brain, the earliest scanners could only form axial (horizontal) images of the human body; that is, a slice from side-to-side, similar to a slice of bread (see picture below). Thus the name Computed Axial Tomography, or CAT scan, was used to describe a scan from this machine. However, this name is no longer accurate, as today’s versions make it possible to see almost every structure in the body in a coronal, sagittal or axial plane, often in a clear 3-D view. Therefore, the term Computed Tomography, or CT imaging, has been adopted.

Axial, Coronal and Sagittal planes of the body

CT - Axial View

CT - Coronal View

CT - Sagittal View

The CT scanner is a complex machine that relies on electronic/digital as well as mechanical equipment to make an image. The patient is placed on a movable platform that is raised and “inserted” into a short tube that looks something like a large donut. Within this tube is a revolving x-ray tube and image receptor (IR), or sensor. As the scan begins the x-ray tube begins to spiral around the patient emitting a thin curtain of x-rays as it moves. Directly across from the tube (on the other side of the patient) is a sensor that picks up the x-rays after they have passed through the patient, collects the data and transfers it to a computer. The computer then uses complex algorithms to form a visual image from the data and projects it onto a computer screen.

View of inner workings of a CT scanner; tube revolves around patient.

With conventional x-ray, different anatomical structures are superimposed on top of each other and often cannot be clearly seen on the x-ray image. However, with CT, because the x-ray tube and IR rotate around the patient’s body scanning it from all angles, it is able to combine all the data it receives from the scan into a comprehensible image for the doctor to evaluate. This is one of the reasons CT imaging is often considered “superior” to conventional x-ray imaging. However, there are some considerations to keep in mind.

A patient generally receives a higher dose of radiation when receiving a CT scan than a conventional x-ray. This is because the patient is being exposed to radiation during the entire time the CT is making its scan, which can last up to several minutes. However, with conventional x-ray the patient is exposed to just a brief emission of x-rays, often measured in just fractions of a second. This is why conventional x-ray is still used for simple imaging procedures such as a broken arm or finger or chest x-rays. Also, CT machines are not portable, so the patient must come to the machine, where as mobile x-ray units allow the machine to come to the patient’s room to make the image.


Overall, the computed tomography has proved to be an invaluable asset to medical imaging and has saved countless lives, whether from helping a doctor diagnose a brain tumor or allowing a surgeon to identify a brain bleed in a car accident victim. As technology advances it is likely that CT scanners will become faster, more precise and more compact, and will continue to allow medical professionals to save lives.


A quote from my positioning book in the Paranasal Sinuses chapter:

"Exudate contained in the [paranasal] sinuses is not fluid in the usual sense of the word but is commonly a heavy, semigelatinous material. The exudate, rather than flowing freely, clings to the walls of the cavity and takes several minutes, depending on its viscosity, to shift position".


Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Patient Obesity Is Obscuring Medical Scans

An article from Forbes online magazine. Here's the direct link to the article.

07.25.06, 12:00 AM ET

TUESDAY, July 25 (HealthDay News) -- In yet another example of how obesity is playing havoc with Americans' health, a new study finds that the number of inconclusive diagnostic imaging exams has doubled in the last 15 years -- a phenomenon experts attribute to all those extra pounds.

"Obesity is affecting the ability to image these people. We're having trouble finding out what's wrong," explained Dr. Raul N. Uppot, lead author of the study, and an assistant radiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and an instructor in radiology at Harvard Medical School, both in Boston.

"When they come to the hospital, people are so concerned about the disease they have that they don't realize that being obese could hinder the ability to deliver health care," he said.

In fact, it could hinder it considerably, given medicine's ever-growing reliance on imaging technology such as X-rays and ultrasound.

"In the past 10 years or so, medicine has become so dependent on imaging," Uppot said. "Instead of doing very meticulous clinical examinations, a lot of doctors now rely on CT scans, ultrasounds, etcetera, to tell them what's happening inside the body. What happens when you're too big to fit on a table? Or you can fit on a table but the image is poor quality?"

The new study is published in the August issue of the journal Radiology.

The findings did not come as a surprise to outside experts. "The study shows more systemically what all of us felt was true anyway," said Dr. Levon Nazarian, professor of radiology and vice chairman for education at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, in Philadelphia.

"Patients may not realize that there are two aspects to being overweight, one of which is the increased risk of a number of different diseases," Nazarian added. "They may not realize that once they actually get sick, their size is going to limit the ability to even tell them what's wrong."

According to official estimates, about two-thirds of adult Americans are overweight or obese, and the effect on individual health and the health-care system is considerable. Obese people are more likely to develop illnesses such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease. Hospitals have also had to "super-size" their wheelchairs and beds to accommodate the new generation of sick and overweight Americans.


"We looked at people who were able to fit on the imaging equipment and get the scan," Uppot said. "When radiologists read the film, they had trouble interpreting the film because the quality of the image was not very good because of [the patient's] size."

In 1989, 0.10 percent of inconclusive exams were due to patient size. By 2003, that number had almost doubled to 0.19 percent.

"What was most alarming was the increase," Uppot said. "The number itself was small."

Difficulties varied according to the type of imaging. By 2003, abdominal ultrasounds exhibited the most difficulty in giving a proper diagnosis (1.9 percent), followed by chest X-rays (0.18 percent), abdominal computed tomography (CT), abdominal X-rays, chest CT and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Ultrasound sends high-frequency sound waves through the patient, where they bounce off internal organs and come back, like a submarine's sonar. But the thicker the fat, the less able the waves are to penetrate. A similar phenomenon is at work with X-rays, the study authors said.

CT scans and MRI have a different problem -- weight limitations of the table that holds the patient and the size of the opening on the imager.

"Many manufacturers have started to address the issue by increasing table weights," Uppot said.

The weight limit for CT scans has been increased from 450 pounds to 550 pounds. For MRI, the weight limit went from 350 to 550 pounds, he said.

But that doesn't solve the bigger problem. "We are now able to fit people on the machine. Then the issue is, what do you do?" Uppot said.

The imaging power can be increased on standard X-ray and CT machines, but this leads to an increase in radiation dose as well, he said.

"What we're realizing is that not only do obese people have increased health problems but our ability to deliver quality diagnostic imaging to them is limited," Uppot said. "A large patient can no longer walk into a hospital and say, 'I want the best quality care, let me get imaged and operated on.' If you're that big, there will be issues."

The problems don't stop with diagnosis. "It puts stress on personnel," said Dr. Jorge Guerra, professor of radiology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. "X-ray personnel will be more prone to injury. We receive patients who are 400, 500, 600 pounds. It paralyzes our ability to provide care for other patients. We need special equipment, special beds, the imaging is lower quality so it takes longer to complete." Size also affects interventional radiology, or procedures meant to treat a patient, which is Guerra's specialty.

And as the University of Miami builds a new hospital, it is having to take into account that more than one-third of the patient population will be more than 350 pounds, he said.

Tuesday, July 18, 2006


Summer in Phoenix reminds me of winters growing up in Minnesota. "What!" you say "How can July in the sun-baked desert of Phoenix, Arizona remind you of the frozen, wind-blown tundra-like environment of Minnesota in January?" Well believe it or not it does.

There are actually several similarities.

1. The weather is extreme: e.g. Minnesota in January = - 30 degress F, Arizona in July = 115 deg. F.

2. Everyone stays inside because it's either too hot or too cold to be outside for any length of time.

3. Energy usage hits an all time high for heating your homes in Minnesota and cooling them in Arizona.

4. Touching metal objects is a no-no and can result in either a nasty burn or painful frostbite.

5. Both cause me to question why anyone decided to settle here in the first place.

6. Nobody from out of state visits you.

7. You make trips to places with the opposite temperature: e.g. Mexico in the winter and Canada in the summer.

8. Plants and animals are doment and/or clinging to life.

9. Golf courses are suddenly empty.

10. You will refuse to go anywhere if the climate control is not working in your car.

So there you have it. Surprisingly there are several similarities between Minnesota winters and Arizona summers. Once you've experienced either one of them you are truely a survivor.

Monday, July 17, 2006

The poke heard 'round the world.......or at least in my apartment

This weekend my wife was gracious enough to be my guinea pig for my very first attempt at venipuncture. What a doll!!

I had called her early last week, and requested that she permanently "borrow" a butterfly needle or two from work, so I could practice venipuncture on her over the weekend. She obliged and on Sunday night at approximately 5:32 pm I inserted a metal needle into a person's vein for the very first time.

It wasn't without problems though. As a nurse, she has had plenty of experience putting in IVs and the like, so she walked me through the steps involved and before I knew it, it was my turn to try. I did all the prep, applied the tourniquet, cleaned the area with alcohol, located the vein and then dove in. He shoots and........he misses! Damn! Just as I slide the tip of the needle under the skin the bugger of a vein decides to do a little shimmy to the left, my right! With some soft cursing and the draining of what little confidence I had, I withdraw the needle and take a breath.

"It's OK," she tells me, "That happens a lot, just try to hold the skin tighter with your other hand so the vein can't move around." Infinite patience, this woman has. So I reprep, pick a different vein in the same hand and gear up again for insertion.

Holding the skin tighter so the vein has no where to go, I slip the needle under the skin in as smooth a motion as I can. It feels the same as before and I am just about ready to begin with the soft curses again, when I feel a light "pop" and a flash of blood appears in the clear tubing attached to the needle. I'm in!! Success!! I ask her how she's doing and she says "fine", although her face looks a little whiter than normal. I secure the butterfly portion of the needle with some tape, like we have to do for the comp test, and sit back and admire my work.

"Great job," she tells me, "now can you take it out, I'm not feeling so good." I glance up at her and her face is completely ashen. I quickly get to work removing the tape and then the needle. I tell her to put her head down between her knees, of which she is already in the process. She is a nurse after all. I have the needle out and am holding the gauze tightly against her hand when she sits back up and I can see some color returning to her face. "It's a lot easier when you are on the other end of the needle," she says, "now I know how my patients feel."

She's a little embarrassed about getting woozy, so I try to distract her with all my stupid stories about passing out at the doctors office when I was 16 after getting my first Hepatitis shot, and about going completely white and scaring the phlebotomists the first COUPLE of times I gave plasma. Within a few minutes she looks and feels better and tells me that her hand doesn't even hurt where I put in the needle. I take this as good news and explain to her that it's probably because of my unmatched, inherent skill at doing IV injections. She doesn't buy this for a second, but lets me believe it at least for a while.

A few hours later she suggests I try it one more time before I head back to Phoenix, just to make sure I have the process down. Once again I do all the prep. I take her other hand this time and insert the needle and get flashback right away. Success again. This time she doesn't watch or talk during it and just lets me do it all myself. I think this helps, because this time she doesn't get woozy at all and says that she only felt a slight pinch right when I put in the needle, but after that no pain. I guess my practice is paying off.

What a sweetheart letting me practice venipuncture on her. However, she has already told me that when it comes time to test off on administering Barium enemas, I will have to find myself someone else to practice on. Can you blame her?

Favorite Photos

Check out some of my favorite photos that my wife and I have taken. What do you think? Maybe a new hobby?!

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Radiologic Technologist, X-ray Tech, Rad Tech, Radiographer, Medical Imaging

If you are considering a career as a Radiologic Technologist (aka X-ray Tech), have I got a page for you. Please check out Desert Imaging II: A Blog for Prospective X-ray Technologist Students. It provides some basic and not so basic information about the job of Radiologic Technologist.

In the blog, I talk about the educational background you will need as well as things to expect when you start the job. Also, there are many useful links to webpages with additional information on medical imaging.

Please take a moment to check it out if you are interested in becoming a Radiologic Technologist.

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

T is for Technologist

TECHNOLOGIST v. TECHNICIAN. What's the difference, you ask? In radiography circles, the difference is huge!

For many years the term X-ray Technician, or radiology technician, was used to describe the healthcare worker who was in charge of creating x-ray images of sick or hurt patients. They had little, or no, formal education, were trained on the job and were not licensed or credentialed in any way.

That has all changed. Although still misused by the lay-person, and even some people within the healthcare field, x-ray technician is no longer an accurate title for the personnel who are involved in creating medical images.

Currently, we are in a period of transition. Although the term technician is no longer used, a solid, universally-accepted title has not yet been estabished. I guess the most commonly used title in the US, and one endorsed by our major certifying organization the ARRT, is Radiologic Technologist. The title is right there in their name (American Registry of Radiologic Technologists). After taking a nationally recognized exam administered by the ARRT, a student becomes certified as a Technologist, is registered with the ARRT, and can later take another exam to be licensed in the state in which the tech works.

However, that's not to say other names are not used in everyday conversation. X-ray Technologist is still common, as is Rad Tech and RT. Radiographer is commonly used in Great Britain and is likely derived from our common use of the word photographer (a person who make pictures with light rather than x-ray radition). Imaging Tech is more general, including techs who work in CT, MR and ultrasound, and more accurate in that these modalities all produce images of the human body, but they do not all use x-ray radiation to do it.

Presently, radiology departments are employing a level of imaging worker that is similar to the antiquated X-ray Technician, called a Practical Technologist or X-ray Tech of limited scope. This position requires less education than an Radiologic Technologist and is much more limited in their scope of practice, as the name would imply. They are certified to image parts of the distal extremeties, the shoulder girdle, the chest, skull and spine. They are NOT able to image the GI tract, the pelvis, the reproductive tract, the urinary tract or work in Specials. Also, they can NOT use fluoroscopy, CT, MR or bone densitometry. And because of their limited capacity this position is being phased out in many of the hospitals around the United States.

Still a little confused? One way to look at it is comparing a Radiologic Technologist to a Technician is like comparing an RN with an LPN or a physician with a physician's assistant. While all positions in healthcare are important and worthy of respect (right down to the guy who mops the floors), there are often vast differences in education, experience and scope of practice between the different branches in the healthcare hierarchy.

Another way to look at it (and I can't take credit for this, since it's something my instructor told us) is that:

A Technician is TRAINED
A Technologist is EDUCATED


A Technician can push the button
and a Technologist knows why.

I hope this information has helped clear up the difference between a technician and a technologist. Keep in mind terminology and practices differ from region to region and between institutions, so this information may not be entirely accurate in all instances. But in a general way it should help you to realize that a difference exists between the two terms and it is important to use the correct one when referring to a Radiologic Technologist.

Factoid #1548

If properly motivated, I can eat an entire box of Krispy Kreame donuts and still resect myself in the morning.

Monday, July 10, 2006

3-D gaming tech used to train Radiographers

Here's a link to a BBC News article on how 3-D gaming technology is being employeed to train student radiographers on patient positioning and other aspects of radiography. Check it out!

Friday, July 07, 2006


Re: the "Hardest Test EVER" test

Well, I guess it wasn't so hard after all since I apparently got 99%. Don't ask me how though. :-)

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Hardest test.....EVER!!!


It was one of those tests with questions like:




Here's the chart, in case you're curious.

+ = increase, - = decrease, O = no change

Fun stuff, huh!?

Thursday, June 29, 2006






Monday, June 26, 2006



View from Tuzigoot Monument near Cottonwood, AZ





Monday, June 19, 2006

Clinical Site








Word of the Day







