Spine Comps
Today was one of the first really productive days I have had in clinical lately. My spinal comps have been slow in coming for various reasons. Maybe I’m just a little too picky, but probably because I haven’t been in any great hurry to get them done. There are plenty of opportunities for them at my current clinical site, so I have just basically been doing them and trying to learn more about them as I go. It’s really amazing at how different the real world is as compared to the lab in school :)
My first exam this morning was a comp opportunity for the cervical spine series, so I decided to attempt it. I haven’t been having any particular difficulty with the cervical spine series with the exception of the odontoid. The odontoid is the only shot in this series I ever miss on the first try. I finally decided to re-read the book section and talk with the techs at my clinical site. I got some good advice on how to get more consistent with this exam, and it seems to have paid off quite well. The last few odontoids I have shot have been near perfect. Patient motion has also been an issue with the odontoid exam. I can position the patient exactly right and they often won’t be able to hold it until I can get to the control panel to make the image. It’s not the easiest position to hold as a patient either.
That first cervical spine exam today was followed by three lumbar exams, so I decided to go ahead and attempt the comp on that as well. On my first attempt, I had a patient with some rather serious scoliosis. It was so bad that I could see pedicles on the AP view, so my first oblique was rather off target. I actually had to get one of the other techs to help me position this patient to get the obliques right. My second patient was actually a perfect patient for a comp. She was average in size, maybe even a little on the small side, so positioning was quite easy.
I got the T-Spine comp a while back, and I got the cervical and lumbar flexion/extension comps last semester, so the only piece I lack on the spinal stuff is the Swimmer’s, but I’ll probalby shoot that one on my next opportunity also.
I’ll spend the rest of the summer semester (next 5 weeks) working on my fluoro comps…
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