Update to Clinicals

Well, thankfully, the pregnancy season is closely coming to an end in the CT department. We have had 4 maternity leaves all spaced about 3 weeks apart. The second technologist returned this past week and I have one more returning on April 5th. While it is stressful for all involved, it is nice to stay closely in tune with the department. CT at Main and Gateway are two of the busiest departments in the Radiology department. We average about 4000-4500 scans per month, and to be honest, that is down a little bit from last year. I worked this past Friday evening to give some relief to my Team Leader. As we all know CT dose is a hot topic. I had an OP present to the department for a CT stone protocol. When I went in to look at his record I noticed that he'd had 3 separate scans in the past 5 weeks. I thought that was odd that a urologist would order yet another scan only a week later. So, I phoned the physician. It puts the technologist in a precarious position to actually ask the practioner..."Are you sure you really want this?", but this patient was only 35 so I figured it was better to err on the side of caution. It turned out that the patient was scheduled in error. He was supposed to get it in 30 days after his lithotripsy! So, I was glad that I put a little time into it and saved the guy $2,000 and unnecessary radiation.

Clinicals Update

Here at Deaconess Hospital we have a Level II trauma certification. We had a category II come in while I was working. Category I activations are the most severe activations that require alot of accurate QA documentation. Category II's are a little lower level of trauma activation. Above are some images from a recent category II. This patient was a 70 year-old female who was a restrained passenger. The car was T-boned. She was airlifted to Deaconess from Illinois on March 1st.

She had multiple displaced rib fractures, a large right pneumothorax, and a hematoma to her RLQ anteriorly. She also had a Grade I liver laceration. Luckily, she had no head injuries or spinal injuries. The patient had chest tubes placed in the ER and was transferred to Trauma ICU. Her liver laceration was monitored while in the ICU as it was not deemed surgical at the time of admission.