Anyone who has ever CT scanned a patient who is allergic to the IV contrast knows how scary it can be. Previously, I only dealt with inpatients so I could confirm with the nurse that the patient had in fact received the allergy prep medications. Now I am working almost exclusively with outpatients. This week I had five patients who were ...

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 ...

I spent most of yesterday at the VA Hospital having various tests performed and handing over copies of my fingerprints at the police station. I first met with a nice woman from HR who needed me to sign yet another form. She also informed me that I have more paperwork to complete on line. These forms seem to have no end. She then escorted me ...

Today was my first day of work with our new EPIC computer system. It is quite a challenge to completely change the way we do all of our computer work. Everything has been modified from charging for contrast to claiming exams to tracking exams. All of the patient information used to be on one or two screens and now I feel like I'm hunting all over ...

It’s not every day that I get to be on the other side of the X-ray table or scanner. This week, I went for a mammogram and got to do just that. I was going to tell the technologist what I do for a living but decided not to. She was nice, but she did not make me feel at ease when I entered the room. She didn’t do several things that I try to always ...

I had a great weekend back at work. Everyone was very happy to see me and even people in other departments stopped by to welcome me back. This felt great! It really is true that a vacation can make all the difference when you are stressed out from work. I thought I'd have a tough time readjusting to my schedule after being on vacation, but this ...

Working all of my hours on the weekends leaves me a good deal of time to have fun and get numerous things done during the week. I especially love this because there are less people to contend with, and most places and stores are much less crowded. Also, I can spend more time with my best friend, who just had a baby and is just back at work part ...

Recently the number of infants and children I’m scanning seems to be increasing. This population presents many challenges for me and my co-workers. How do you get an infant to stop crying and hold still long enough to get a diagnostic study? How do you deal with the scared parent(s)? Also, is a CT scan really the best option for a child due to the ...

With any job there are always tasks that are not performed often and that are not very enjoyable. I encountered one such task recently, administering rectal contrast. It is used instead of oral contrast when a patient can’t tolerate drinking it or when the doctor suspects a particular diagnosis. The patient I was working with had a fistula and ...