Adventures in Radiation

Damn, this guy's having a bad day.....

2012-08-09T07:35:00.001-04:00

Two views of the skull performed after significant trauma. Not much in the way of fracture lines, but i'm sure you can see the real issue this person has.

A normal abdominal xray

2012-08-08T11:22:00.003-04:00

This is a normal film, the black is gas in the stomach and intestines as well as a moderate amount of stool.

A link to go with my previous post. Go Colonel Sanders

2012-08-08T07:40:00.001-04:00

HAHAHAHA gotta love colonel sanders.

Chick-Fil-Whofreakingcares?!

2012-08-08T07:37:00.000-04:00

Now this isn't radiation related, except the fact that they might irradiate the crap out of their chickens to sterilize them, but i'm sick of this whole controversy over the statements by Chick-Fil-A's president. Who cares what one man's opinion is? I bet Colonel Sanders hates everyone who doesn't eat at KFC, do we see people boycotting his operation?? Heck no. There's more grease guzzling going on there than ever before. I personally want to thank both chicken chains, for making people obese and keeping me in business. Knees can only take so much weight, and knee replacements require extensive imaging. People just need to grow the heck up and lighten the heck up. I'm tired of people getting their panties in a bunch over things like this. We all have the right to our own opinions, just because they differ from yours doesn't make it wrong, it just makes it different. I think everyone should get married and be miserable like everyone else if they choose that life, and I think everyone should have a right to their opinion. Rant concluded, have a great day.

On Call............

2012-08-07T07:42:00.002-04:00

Nothing beats eating a nice dinner with your family, getting 2 bites in , and then having to get up and drive to the hospital to scan or xray someone. And then having to do it 1,000,000 more times. I'd rather work 24 hours straight then work 8 hours and take 8 hours of call. It makes me feel like I have no more freedom, being at someone else's beck and call. Actually, I'd rather eat a plate full of broken glass and wash it down with a glass of battery acid than take one more on call shift, but alas, it comes with the territory. After I get to the hospital, however my entire attitude changes. I see the person or persons I'm there to help and my heart softens and I actually enjoy my job. Then I go home and get called in again. Fahk.

Happy Monday!

2012-08-06T11:24:00.004-04:00

Happy Monday folks!Any radiation in your forecast today?

Radiation Exposure While Flying

2012-08-05T14:50:00.004-04:00

A Video about how much dose you get flying. Click Here

A pretty interesting video about how much radiation you get exposed to when flying.

Weddings

2012-08-05T14:37:00.000-04:00

Weddings are interesting. Especially the receptions, when you know 40% of the people neither know or care about the bride and groom, they just wanna get sauced and get a free meal. At least that's the impression I've gotten from the ones I've seen. And of course, there's always one person who's dancing so hard they snap an ankle/foot/wrist etc. Those are always fun patients to examine. 5 crown and cokes deep and they still wanna dance, fractures and all ;).

500 Views! Thanks everyone!

2012-08-03T13:41:00.001-04:00

Thanks a lot guys for checking out my blog. I really appreciate all my visitors, if I get to 100,000 views I'll submit my dog as a write in candidate on the next presidential election. No joke. I'll even campaign for him. Elmer for president, he'd prolly do a better job then the morons we're dealing with now.

Racing with the Lab staff.

2012-08-03T13:09:00.001-04:00

Let's say you were talking crap and some guy threw you down a flight of stairs. Metal ones. Rusty Metal ones .You get the idea. After waiting for three days your cuts get infected and you have to go to see a doctor. You go to the ER, the doctor sees you, orders a bunch of xrays to see if you broke your ass and a bunch of laboratory testing to see if you have a systemic infection. These orders all print out in their respective departments at the same time. Then, the race is on.

I jump out of my chair and get to the ER as fast as I can, yet somehow, the lab techs and their superhuman speed always make it there first. I've tried locking the door, I've tried sneaking in the ER the back way, and I've even tried leaving a trail of M n M's that leads outside to trick them, but they're too smart to fall for my schemes. It's frustrating to have to wait when the only patience you have is for when you're dealing with actual patients. Just kidding of course, the lab work needs to be drawn first because it takes longer to run, but I still like to look at it as a competition with my friends who work there ;)

Here's a chest xray with anatomy labeled.

2012-08-02T13:03:00.000-04:00

Calculate your Exposure!

2012-08-01T19:58:00.001-04:00

http://www.epa.gov/rpdweb00/understand/calculate.html

Here's a really cool site to calculate your radiation exposure!

Nurses

2012-08-01T18:20:00.000-04:00

What can I say. How you treat your nurses directly impacts how your work experience goes. People are people, so you'll find some nice ones and some rude ones. Big ones, small ones. Old ones and young ones. What do they all have in common? They are a critical part of the healthcare team, just like we, as technologists, are. I make it my goal to be as nice as I can and to be as much of a team player as I can. A happy nurse will make a happy Xray tech. I can honestly say that the nurses I work with all appreciate my work and will all help me in a second if I need it. If I would be rude or selfish or not a team player then that wouldn't be the case, so to all you techs, patients, and whoever else out there, make sure you're nice to your nurse. You won't be disappointed by the care you will receive or by the amount of help you get from them.

Why I have to move your broken arm.

2012-08-01T13:41:00.002-04:00

So if you've ever broken your arm, you prolly wanna punch me in the nuts for having to move it while I'm xraying you. I don't blame you. If some smug jerk was trying to get me to move my broken arm and I didn't know why I'd wanna punch him in the nuts too. I'll explain why to you, and hopefully I won't lose my ability to have children next time I xray you.
In order to tell the extent of your injury, we have to get multiple planes of view. Looking down from the top, I can see that your arm is broken, but I can't tell if the bones are pushed up, pushed down, or pushed into each other. By looking at things at an angle and then sideways, I can tell if you've shoved your radius and ulna above the fracture or below, which will tell the doctor how to treat you.
That being said, there are ways that I can move my camera and film in order to get the views I need without having to move your arm much, so if you're in a lot of pain, ask the tech to try to do a shoot thru lateral view instead of moving your arm. If they don't know how or refuse to do it, then see the first paragraph of this post.

No I'm not looking at your breasts.

2012-07-31T17:08:00.001-04:00

Some people seem to think that since i'm looking inside of their body I'm automatically going to be checking them out. As much as people would believe that, we don't normally check out the breasts or other anatomy of our patients. Like anyone wants to see 100 year old boobs anyway. We all are professional, and one day we'll be in a position where we'll have any shred of modesty taken away by having to wear a hospital gown. When I'm scanning you or Xraying you, the last thing on my mind is to look at what your irradiated lady or man parts look like. I'm actually more concerned with making you feel better, go figure. :p

Hello!

2012-07-30T13:38:00.001-04:00

A big hello and thanks to all the people who view my blog. Seems as though I've got people from all over the world checking this out, spread the word to your friends, I'll try to keep posting daily.

Upgrade?

2012-07-30T13:27:00.001-04:00

Well, I applied to get trained in MRI, so that would make 4 modalities I am proficient in, Radiography, Computed Tomography, Bone Densitometry, and Magnetic Resonance Imaging. There's another fella who wanted to apply, but he's full time, and the position is part time. This leads me into one of the things I really DON'T like about my job. You ready for it................................POLITICS! Anytime you have a bunch of different people working together, in any field, politics will rear its ugly, malformed head. Some people bust ass and get no rewards, others whine and complain and work harder at not doing their job and get paid more than anyone. It's ridiculous. If I dragged ass and was slow and lazy and fought to get out of doing tests maybe i'd get money, but I'd also have a hard time sleeping at night. The people who suffer are the patients, plain and simple, and it's annoying beyond belief. So if i get his MRI gig, i'll be pissing off someone, but I know that the patients who I treat will get the best care I can give, and that's what's really important.

Some more info on dosage.

2012-07-29T21:05:00.003-04:00

What is a lethal dose of radiation from a single Exposure?

Studies of the 1945 atomic bombing at Hiroshima and Nagasaki show that 100 percent of victims whose bodies were exposed to 600,000 millirems (6,000 mSv) died from radiation. About 50 percent of victims who received 450,000 millirems (4,500 mSv) of radiation also died.

(Note: Rem is a unit of ionizing radiation equal to the amount that produces the same damage to humans as one roentgen of high-voltage x-rays. Source: MIT)

1 rem = 10 mSv (1 Sv = 100 rem)

Background Radiation in millirems per year (mrem/yr)

Average background radiation (US): 300
Higher altitudes (e.g, Denver): 400

“Safe Levels” of Radiation (U.S.)

Limits above natural background radiation levels (average 300 millirems per year) and medical radiation:

Occupation Limit: Maximum of 5,000 (the limit for a worker using radiation)
Average Natural Background: 300

[Note: Lifetime cumulative exposure should be limited to a person's age multiplied by 1,000 millirems, e.g., a 70-year-old person, 70,000 millirems.]

Adults

Max single dose for an adult: 3,000
Annual total dose: 5,000

Under 18

Max single dose for a person aged under 18 years: 300 millirems (whole body equivalent)
Annual total exposure: 500

Fetal Exposure

Maximum limit for fetal exposure during gestation period: 50 millirems per month above background levels

Medical

Single Chest X-ray (the whole body equivalent): 2 millirem

Air Travel

Coast-to-coast US round trip flight: 12 millirems

*Note: Radiation dose of about 2,000 millisieverts (200,000 millirems) cause serious illness.

What radiation does to DNA, resulting in deformities if affected egg or sperm cells end up forming a zygote.

2012-07-29T21:05:00.000-04:00

2012-07-29T17:58:00.002-04:00

Some info about CT scan dosage

Here's a small bit of information about the dosage you get from CT scans.

Xray experiences

2012-07-29T17:12:00.001-04:00

Have you ever had an Xray/CT/Ultrasound/MRI test done? How do you feel about it? Any positive or negative feedback? Lots of times patients end up being rushed through without the tech taking the time to talk and explain the exam in depth. I always try to explain what exactly I'm doing, why the doctor ordered it, and what the test will show. I also try to give a time frame as to when the results will be available and how they can go about getting them. Not everyone does this everytime, so if you've had a different experience I'd like to hear about it.

The big dose.

2012-07-27T11:30:00.003-04:00

Now, before I rant on this post, I just wanted to take a second to say I love my job, and I value it's importance in the process of diagnosing and treating disease. That being said, I produce IONIZING RADIATION. That means the xray photons knock electrons out of your atoms and produce Ions which are free radicals that damage your DNA, leading to cell death upon replication or worse, cancer. The highest dose you'll get from me? A CT scan. Yet for some reason some doctors order CT's like they're passing out candy at a parade. It concerns me that i'm frying brains and ovaries or whatever else when other imaging modalities are available, such as ultrasound. Granted, it is very important in the case of acute cerebral hemorrhage etc, but if you've had a headache for a couple hours, I don't really think I should be irradiating your brain. Just my opinion. What do you think?

Portable vs in Dept.

2012-07-25T19:45:00.004-04:00

What's the difference between the radiation emitted by a portable machine and the radiation emitted by a regular xray machine? Absolutely nothing. By utilizing, say, 110 kilovolts and a 12:1 grid with perpendicular centering you should get the same image regardless. It is operator error that will produce a difference. Sometimes I wish other hospital staff knew that, but alas, for another 2 years I'll be stuck at this level on the totem pole and have to just do what I'm told, one of the more frustrating aspects of this profession.

2012-07-24T00:04:00.001-04:00

Anyone have any radiology related questions or experiences they'd like to share?

What I do.

2012-07-23T14:44:00.003-04:00

So, most of my friends and family know that I'm a Radiographer, Radiology Technologist, X-ray Technologist, X-ray Technician, CT technician..............you get the idea. The general assumption is that I lay people on tables and push buttons. That is true in some sense, but the field of Radiology is much more in depth than just depressing some pieces of plastic connected to wires. At it's core, radiology is one of the front lines of medicine. Think about it, you go see your doctor with a lingering pain that just won't go away. Most people have feelings of apprehension from the possibilities they discuss with their doctor, and then they are referred for imaging and/or laboratory testing. I see a number of patients through the ER, in which case people are almost always in pain or worried about their condition. That is where the most important part of my job comes in, helping people relax and explaining to them what I'm doing, why I'm doing it, and when they can expect their results. I do all these things in a pleasant way, usually just shooting the breeze the entire time. A smile, my friends, can go a long way, as can people learning exactly what is going on around them. I find many of us in the medical field tend to take for granted that we know what drug is what and what test does what. The average Joe down the street who cut his finger off and the average Jane up the road who has a kidney stone don't know the inner workings of a hospital, they just know they're in a lot of pain, and they want help feeling better. A guy walking in with a kind smile and words of consolation are much more important than any amount of radiation I can produce, because at the end of the day healing starts and ends with people, not technology.