February is American Heart Month and we all need to sit up and take notice, especially women. Heart disease is the leading cause of death among women in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Smokers, diabetics, and the obese are at higher risk. If you are having heart related symptoms and visit your doctor, any ...

A hospital is a microcosm of the real world with regard to class. Rarely do you see a doctor acknowledge someone in housekeeping or even a nurse or CT tech for that matter while walking down the hall. This has always bothered me because I wasn't raised this way. My parents taught me that all people are the same no matter which uniform they ...

Last weekend the majority of our traumas were motorcycle related. When it's motorcycle versus car or truck or tree the motorcycle never wins. People who ride them underestimate the dangers. In Florida there is no law that states you must wear a helmet. How can this be? The first fatality I ever saw in the ER was this exact depiction. The cyclist ...

Due to the physical nature of working in CT, many of my co-workers have suffered temporary and/or permanent injuries. They most often hurt their backs or their shoulders. A new hire whom I work with on Friday nights who does the portables has suffered a back injury.In light of this, I'm being trained on how to do the portable head scans on the ...

Unless you've worked an eight-hour night shift and then two back-to-back 16-hour shifts overnight, you can't imagine how exhausting it can be. The lead technologist on Friday night always lets me leave early Saturday morning, knowing how much an extra hour of sleep can mean to me. However, on the next two shifts, one of my other ...

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 ...

Not only am I enjoying my new career more and more each week but I am so grateful to have all of the benefits that come with a full time position. My benefits recently kicked in and I am saving a good deal of money each month on prescriptions and doctor's visits.One thing I haven't had since 1997 is paid time off. I took my first weekend off this ...

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 ...

There are so many differences being a student and actually working now as an employee in a Level 1 Trauma Center ER. The pace of the work varies greatly from shift to shift. This past Friday it was the busiest shift I've ever worked and I thought this would be a predictor of how the rest of the weekend would go. It turned out to be the slowest ...