So You're A Button Pusher...

Have you ever been at a social gathering where everyone makes small talk. Eventually, someone asks, "What do you do?" When you answer "I'm a Radiologic Technologist" and you see the confusion on their faces, you amend your answer to, "I'm an X-Ray Tech". What usually follows is at the least, degrading.

"Oh... so you're one of those button pushers."



You count to ten, take a cleansing breath, and would love to explain the complexities of your profession. How your knowledge of anatomy, physiology, positioning, technical factors, physics, and an eye for the smallest detail, makes your job challenging every day. How we strive to be compassionate and empathetic to every patient who's lives we touch. How new technology is constantly emerging requiring additional education in these new applications. You would love to explain how exciting it is to witness CR/DR after using film/screen for the past 30 years you have worked in the field. How digital mammography is one of the coolest things you have ever seen, and can actually save a women's (or man's life)!

That's our ultimate goal, saving lives, helping patients and physicians reach a conclusion, obtain an answer, reach a diagnosis, all through diagnostic imaging.



Now back to the initial question... "So you're a button pusher?" This generalization of our profession really pushes MY buttons! Do you push buttons when you use a computer, change the station on your car radio, or use your microwave, mp3 player, or cell phone. Of course we push buttons, doesn't everyone?

Customer Service- Are Patients Abusing It?

Is it just me, or have you noticed that patients are much more demanding than 5, 10, 15 years ago. It used to be, you would ask a patient to jump, and they would ask "how high". Well... no, we never asked a patient to jump, but you get my drift. Yes, we are all about providing our 'customers' the best possible care as quickly and efficiently as possible. Don't get me wrong, without their business, we would not survive in this nasty and competitive business called health care. Patients have options, and can go wherever they wish for the services we provide.
I've been in this 'business' for over thirty years and have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly, as far as patients are concerned. Lately, the 'ugly', are becoming the norm. This has nothing to do with physical appearance, rather, their belief that they are the only patient we have to deal with for the entire day and can spend massive amounts of time calling their physician's office for an order they left hanging at home on their refrigerator, having showed up on the wrong day, at the wrong time. Yes, we will call their physician's office, only to be put on hold for what seems like forever, meanwhile our other patients, also wanting good 'customer service' are left waiting until we take care of the first problem. I can't tell you the number of times a patient has said, "Well... I showed up today, so you HAVE to do my x-ray TODAY!" Of course we do, otherwise our customer service would be inadequate. All we want in return is a simple "thank you for working me in". Unfortuantely, this is something we rarely hear. What follows is an apology by us to our other 'customers' who have had to wait unnecessarily.
The problem is: time. No one has enough of it. Everyone is hurrying through their day with too many errands, too many appointments, too many 'things' to do in a limited amount of time. What did people do in the 'old' days before automobiles, dishwashers, automatic washers and dryers, computers, cell phones, refrigerators with ice makers, garbage disposals, and central air/heat. Our daily lives in 2009 are filled with time-saving devices to afford us MORE time, not less. Are we that much busier than 5, 10, 20 years ago? I wonder....... more to follow.......

Way to go Wilhelm!

First Human X-ray 1896
To know something like the back of your hand is a timeless concept, one taken yet further by Wilhelm Konrad Roentgen. While working on a series of experiments with a Crookes tube, he noticed that a bit of barium platinocyanide emitted a fluorescent glow. He then laid a photographic plate behind his wife’s hand (note the wedding rings), and made the first X-ray photo. Before that, physicians were unable to look inside a person’s body without making an incision. Roentgen was the recipient of the first Nobel Prize for Physics in 1901.

"So what the heck is a blog? , I asked.

blog
Part of Speech: n
Definition:
an online diary; a personal chronological log of thoughts published on a Web page; also called Weblog, Web log
Example: Typically updated daily, blogs often reflect the personality of the author.
Etymology:
shortened form of Weblog
Usage: blog, blogged, blogging v, blogger n

blog
Part of Speech: vt
Definition: to author an online diary or chronology of thoughts
Etymology: 1999-2004; abbr. of Weblog
Usage: blogged, blogging; blogger, n

blog
Part of Speech: n
Definition:
See weblog
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