The tough job market continues to affect me. I got hired at the VA as a fee-based CT technologist on a part time basis. I was told that I would work 5 days a week every other week until the two full-time open positions were filled. This was supposed to take me at least into the fall of this year. In an unprecedented turn of events, the usually ...

Jobs are difficult to get these days and it end ups being more about who you know, not what you know. I have my foot in the door at the VA because of a former colleague. She actually helped me get my first CT job right out of school and now she’s helping me out again. I guess I’ve impressed her somewhere along the way. This is an important ...

In Canada, CT scans will now be more readily available to four legged patients. Charlottetown’s Atlantic Veterinary College in Prince Edward Island is testing a new CT machine that will be used to diagnose animals. In the past, only the critical cases were taken to a local human hospital under sedation and scanned. This new machine will be ...

Technology and medicine continue to collide with a new app that was just cleared by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It is called Mobile MIM and it can turn an iPhone or an iPad into a handy diagnostic instrument. It allows practitioners to view CT scans, MRIs, and other technologies when they are away from their work stations. It can also ...

Rad Tech week is right around the corner and folks are ready to celebrate. It is time to give thanks to Wilheim Roentgen, the physicist who first discovered the possibility of using electromagnetic radiation to create what we now know as an x-ray. He made our profession possible. Imaging departments will spend the week celebrating with a ...

It is with great anticipation that many Americans welcome opening day of the 2012 NFL Season. With all of the fun that comes with tailgates and parties, the health of these athletes must not be overlooked. The American Academy of Neurology just released a study that confirms previously held beliefs “… that head injuries cause neurologic ...

As the NFL preseason gives way to the regular season, we are reminded of the important role that imaging plays in sports. Michael Vick, of the Philadelphia Eagles, injured his ribs and left thumb in his last two games. He received x-rays of his ribs and his thumb while still at the stadiums. Both came up negative. Later in the week Vick ...

Olympians have the opportunity to be heroes every time they step out to compete in their events. We as Rad Techs can be heroes in our every day lives at home and at work. By staying alert and on your toes while at work you can catch a co-worker’s oversight, help a patient who is scared, or alert a doctor when he misses an allergy or orders the ...

Wherever athletes go radiology is sure to follow. Whether it’s an x-ray, CT scan, or MRI, practitioners rely on this technology for diagnosis and treatment. Men’s cycling at the 2012 Olympics saw an injury to one of the Swiss cyclers. Fabian Cancellara “hit the deck with about 15 km to go in the race, leaving him with a bloodied arm and ...

It is estimated that up to 1% of all cancers in the United States can be linked to medical radiation. This means with each x-ray or CT scan the risk increases. A recent study in The Journal of Cancer found a link between dental x-rays and brain tumors called meningiomas. The majority of the tumors are benign but depending upon their location they ...