Road to Radiography

Today was my first day of clinical.  I will be working a 6-hour clinical on Thursday’s for the rest of this semester.  I didn’t get to actually do anything other than observe today.  I did get to help with the preparation of a sterile field of equipment what was being used in an arthrogram though.  That was interesting since we just discussed that in class yesterday.

My first observation of the day was a thoracic vertebrae exam which is commonly called a T-Spine.  The first view the radiographer made was the AP view with the patient lying on his back on the table.  The second and third views were lateral views with the patient lying on his side with one image made on each side. 

My second observation of the day was an upper GI exam using fluoroscopy.  This exam was interesting to me also, because I have had one done on me before, but I obviously wasn’t able to watch the imaging screens.  The patient was given a substance like Alka-Seltzer to create gas and bloating in the stomach, and then a barium drink to make the esophagus, stomach, and duodenum visible for the process.  The physician observed the barium drink going down the esophagus and into the stomach, while several images were made (in erect position.)  The patient was then put in a recumbent position and multiple images were made while the patient was rotated and put into several other positions.  Of all the exams I observed today, the most images were made during this one.

The third exam I observed was a lumbar vertebrae exam with flexion and extension views.  This exam was very similar to the t-spine procedure, but there were some additional images made with the patient in the erect position with extension and flexion images made from both sides.

The fourth and fifth exams were hands and feet.  In these exams, the image cassette was placed on top of the table rather than in the bucky.  The had exams were done in the AP and PA orientations.  The foot exams were done in the AP and lateral orientations. 

The final exam I witnessed today was an arthrogram, which was also done using fluoroscopy.  This was the exam where I helped the radiographer prepare the sterile field for the physician.  I didn’t envy this patient very much.  He got a contrast injection into his shoulder joint (between the scapula and the humerus).  The physician gave an injection of anesthetic before this injection, but it still looked like a potentially painful situation :)  I don’t believe any images were recorded during this process, because the patient was having his imaging exam done in MRI.  This process was just in preparation for that. 

The day seemed to go by rather quickly.  Six hours didn’t seem like much.  There were a few slow periods during the day, but they weren’t too bad.  My clinical coordinator stopped by as well.  We were told to expect her to pop in occasionally, but we never know when she is coming.  I suppose those visits will become more of an event once I start doing things under supervision and on my own. 

There is another student from my class at this same clinical site, so I’m not there by myself as a student.  My clinical partner knows a lot more than I do though.  He works in a radiography department.  He knows how the computer systems work and how to do quite a lot already.  I expect that he will be a great source of aid for me during my infancy in this program. 

The first week of class is now complete.  This semester, I have no class or clinical on Fridays, so I’m off tomorrow.  I’ll get to sleep just a little later tomorrow, but I plan to take advantage of that free time to continue my reading and studying.  My first test in this program will probably be on Tuesday, so I need to be over-prepared for it until I get a grip on what will be expected from me at test time.  I’ll also have a medical terminology test (online portion of RAD-110) available to me tomorrow, so I’ll probably try to get that out of the way as well.  The medical terminology portion of this class is basically a self-study self-paced class, but I can’t afford to fall behind in it. 

Tags: 1st Semester, Clinical //