Road to Radiography

This is a holiday week, so my only clinical day was on Tuesday since I’m out of class on Thursday and Friday. Tuesday was a rather busy day though. I managed to comp the small bowel study, and in the process, I set my personal best time on that exam. On my first pre-comp of this exam, the patient took nearly three hours to move the barium all the way to the terminal ileum. My second patient was a bit quicker at just over one hour. The patient I had on Tuesday got it all the way through in about 10 minutes. The barium had reached the terminal ileum on my film at 10 minutes, but I still had to shoot the second film since the radiologist needs the AP and PA images to work with.

I also got my final pre-comp on the ribs exam. The next time I see a ribs exam, I’ll be able to comp it hopefully.

The cruddy part of my day was that I missed out on a humerus exam when I went to lunch. I still need one pre-comp on the humerus before I can get the procedure comped, and I’m just not lucky enough yet to see many of these exams.

Comp System Rundown

Here’s a quick rundown of how our comp system works… We have a master list that we were given at the beginning of the program that lists the mandatory comps (36 total) and elective comps (30 total). We are required to comp all 36 of the mandatory comps and 15 out of the 30 elective comps. That being the case, there are 51 comps that we are required to have before we graduate. To get the maximum available grade in our clinical class, we ultimately have to get more than this. During our first semester, we were required to get 4 comps to get a grade of 100 on that section of the grade. During the second semester, we were required to get 22 comps to get a grade of 100. During this summer semester, we need 15 comps to get the maximum grade. During the upcoming fall and spring, we need 15 each semester for the maximum grade. The good news is that if you get extra comps during one semester, they carry over to the next semester. The following list shows our required comps and the elective comps. I have completed the comps that are in bold text:

Required Comps - Need all of these

Chest (routine)
AP Chest (wheelchair or stretcher)
Thumb or Finger
Hand
Wrist
Forearm
Elbow
Shoulder
Trauma Upper Extremity (non shoulder)
Foot
Ankle
Knee
Tibia-Fibula
Femur
Trauma Lower Extremity
Cervical Spine
Thoracic Spine
Lumbar Spine
Pelvis
Hip
KUB
Decubitus or Upright Abdomen
C-Arm Procedure
Portable Chest
Portable Orthopedic
Pediatric Chest
Ribs
Humerus
Trauma Shoulder (Scapular Y, Transthoracic, or Axillary)
Skull
Paranasal Sinuses
Trauma (cross table) Cervical Spine
Cross table lateral Hip
Upper GI Series
Barium Enema
Portable Abdomen

Electives - Need 15 of these

Lateral Decubitus Chest
Clavicle
Patella
Calcaneus
ERCP
Pediatric Upper Extremity
Pediatric Lower Extremity
Pediatric Portable
Small Bowel Series
Sternum
Upper Airway (Soft Tissue Neck)
Scapula
AC Joints
Toe
Facial Bones
Orbits
Zygomatic Arches
Nasal Bones
Mandible or Panorex
Sacrum or Coccyx
Scoliosis Series
Sacroiliac Joints
IVU
Esophagus
Cystography / Cystourethrography
Myelography
Arthrography
Surgical Cholangiography
Retrograde Pyelography
Pediatric Abdomen

Anything that isn’t on these lists are something we call “Candy” comps. They are comps that don’t require any pre-comps, and there are lots of them. I have 44 comps completed so far in the program. If you click on the MY GOALS link at the top of the page, you can see the list of stuff I have completed so far… I think I need to make some revisions to that page to help me focus on what I still need rather than what I have already. As far as this summer semester is concerned, I don’t expect to get many more comps. There are three that I expect to complete. I plan to comp the Barium Enema, the Upper GI, and the Swimmer’s C/T Spine. I may be able to get the Esophagus, but that exam is a multi-textured barium swallow, and I don’t see many of those.

Tags: 3rd Semester, Clinical //