Road to Radiography

I had my first day of clinical at the new site today.  The new site is a hospital, so the ’scenery’ is a little different from the outpatient setting I have been in for the last eight weeks.  I was involved in 10 procedures today, and 5 of them were chest x-rays.  I did those myself with the help of a tech on a wheelchair exam.  The wheelchair PA chest is a separate comp, so I got one of my required pre-comps on that exam.  One of my chest x-rays was on an 8-year-old girl, and I think my cut-off for the pediatric chest is age 6, so I emailed my instructor to ask if I can use that as a pre-comp or not… I don’t think I can.  I picked up a pre-comp on a hand exam and another on a KUB, so the day was productive.  I have to participate in 125 procedures this semester for a grade of 100 in that section, and I have completed 89 of those already.  I need 4 master comps for a grade of 100 in that section, and I still only have one of those, but I feel confident that I’ll get at least 4 comps by the end of the semester.  My personal goal is 6, so we’ll see how that goes.

In the new clinical site, I quickly encountered a couple differences in the way we are taught and the way things are actually done.  I have been expecting this, but I didn’t see that much of it at my last site.  The tech I worked with this morning on the chest x-rays doesn’t like to make the image on the second full inspiration.  She wants it done on the first in an effort to save time.  I’m not particularly happy with that, but I suppose I have to ‘be like the Romans’ in this instance.  I was also told that if I do a finger exam that I should include the entire metacarpal all the way down to the wrist.  I’m not sure if this is a radiologist requirement or what, but it’s different than what I have been taught. 

Two of the techs I’m working with at the new site graduated from my program last may, so that is sorta interesting.  Both of them will be helpful to me in understanding lots of details about my instructors and their expectations since they have already been down this road. 

Now… I’m glad this week is over.  I aced three tests and had a first day at a new clinical site.  I don’t have a lot of studying to do before Monday other than to look over a few lecture notes and possibly complete my next unit in Medical Terminology.  I can’t remember if I have mentioned it here before, but “Medical Terminology” is a self-study portion of my Patient Care & Intro to Rad (RAD-110) class.  The tests that we take are online and the book is broken up into 12 units.  If we stay on schedule with that part of the program, we will finish with 4 weeks leftover in the semester.  I’m currently on schedule.  I have taken 9 of the 12 tests.  I’ll probably try to get prepared for the next test over the weekend. 

Tags: 1st Semester, Clinical //