The VCUG
I got my first opportunity to work on a voiding cystourethrogram in clinical today. I was glad to get the opportunity, but the experience overall was one of the most difficult I have had so far. The male patient was just under three years old. For those of you who are in your own clinical environment, you know that children this age can be difficult, especially in fluoro exams. We made it through the fluoro portion of the exam without too much trouble, but the real problems set in when we needed to have the child completely void himself for the final empty bladder image. The child’s bladder was definitely full of contrast, but the child refused to empty it for us. The frustrating part of the situation was that the child would tell us that he needed to pee, but when we took him to the restroom and put him on the stool, he always claimed that he couldn’t go. We decided to get him to drink some to help this process along, but the success was not so great. This child drank an entire 20oz Pepsi, and a 20oz Sun Drop, and still would not go. We gave him a 12oz cup of water and got him to go just a little bit after that, but not enough to void the contrast from his bladder. This process of getting him to completely void started at about 10am this morning, and when I had to leave clinical at 2pm, he was still not voided enough for the final image in the series. By this time, the child was visibly tired and just worn out. To me, it looked like he would go to sleep at any minute. I’m not sure how this exam ended, but I’ll find out in the morning. The tech who was working with me during this exam was completely frustrated with the situation, but I had to let him have it back when I had to leave. I’m sure I’ll hear the result first thing in the morning when I go back.
On a good note, this exam does count as a pre-comp for me, and I also picked up a pre-comp I needed for a pediatric abdomen on another exam today…
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