Road to Radiography

During today’s clinical, I got my first confidence boost.  I performed my first x-ray!  I had a 72 year-old female patient who was in for a chest examination.  Working under the direct supervision of an RT, I positioned the patient for a PA and then Lateral x-ray.  Both of the images came out well with no problems.  The CXR is the only procedure I feel any amount of comfort with at this point, because it’s the only positioning we have been over in lab so far.  I was lucky today in clinical because there were quite a few chest exams, and I had the opportunity to observe several before I attempted one myself. 

I also observed a UGI exam on a 19 month-old male, which was quite an experience.  This particular exam was very difficult because the child did not want to let go of his mother in the exam room.  As soon as the staff attempted to place the child on the table, the expected fit followed.  With the mother at the child’s side, two RTs held the patient by each arm while a third held his feet to help keep him in position.  It was a struggle throughout the entire process, and the radiologist didn’t get everything he really wanted, but he thinks he probably has enough for an evaluation.  Oddly enough, it wasn’t too difficult to get the child to drink the barium.  We put the barium in his own cup, and he drank some of it on his own.  We were unable to get him to drink while he was on the table though, and had to resort to a syringe to inject the barium solution into his mouth.  That seemed to work ok. 

I took the test for my second module of Medical Terminology last night and made a 98 on it.  I’m out of school on Monday for the Labor Day holiday, but I’ll be spending time over the weekend and on Monday to start preparing for my first test in Intro to Radiography & Patient Care.  That test is gonna have a lot of material on it. 

I also have to go to the Health Department tomorrow for my second round of Hepatitis B vaccinations…  another shot! 

Tags: 1st Semester, Clinical //