LDOC

We just finished up our Imaging Physics section, which turned out to not be as bad as I had thought it would be. It was a lot about what goes on to produce the x-rays, and how they form the image on the image receptor (IR). And technical factors that the RTs can control to control the image quality. Useful stuff. Not the nasty irrelevant physics in the intro classes. That exam was today and I think I did okay on it. We learned the differences between screen-film and digital imaging, and the two types of digital imaging - computed and...digital. With computed, only the processing of the image is different. The RT still has to put a cassette in the Bucky and then take it to a processor or reader, but it either has film or a photostimulable phosphor plate. With digital radiography (DR), the image data gets transmitted directly from the IR that's under the table to the RT workstation. It removes the step of going back into the room to get it from the table. And there's all sorts of technical things that go into how each of those 3 processes work. In lab last Thursday we played with screen-film imaging, which does not allow any post-processing by the RT to correct for brightness or contrast. What you put on the film is what you get developed. We played around with the technical factors to figure out for different anatomical structures what factors needed to be changed by how much. We got to take home an image, too, if we wanted to. It's on my parent's refrigerator :)

We also finished up our thoracic section in anatomy yesterday. We said goodbye to our cadavers, which the boys named Boris and Grandma Death. Most of the thorax is vessels and I don't like those. But they're kind of important. We had review for all 3 sections today during class. I'm nervous about studying for both of my exams, because there is so much information and so little time to look at it all! But I'm not really nervous for actually taking them, yet. I'm sure that it will come together by the time I sit to take it. But there's just so much to study!!

I finished medical terminology last week. I feel so much more intelligent about medical jargon now! In my classes, now, when the professor or the book says something that I wouldn't have understood, now I can tell you what it means. It's quite cool. Watch out for big words that are now part of my vocabulary!

We got our duke IDs on Friday. It's going to be fun (not really) to try to find my way there and around the hospital when I'm there on rotations. But it has to be done. Speaking of clinicals, I attempted to load the files for the clinical software our director wants us to use, and I was able to install it to my Blackberry, but I can't load images or get my tech to sign it, so I don't think the Storm is going to work. I am going to take it to him, though, before I completely rule it out. I do think that I'll end up using my iTouch, though, which is just fine with me! Especially since we just bought it. I would probably use it anyway, because I don't want my Storm to be all messed up on me.

I Dare You to Move

I found out something disturbing today, that I kind of already knew about, but hadn't actually realized. In NC to take an x-ray, you don't have to be licensed. This means that if you go to a 'doc-in-a-box' place as they're called, like a family practice or an urgent care practice, and you need to have a radiograph taken, the person actually doing that for you may not be licensed! It may be the nurse at the office, or someone else. Not someone who is an actual radiographer. It's not as dire as the practice has pulled someone random off the street to push the button, but these people may not have training in radiography and, though you may get a good image, will not give you the best care as a patient. They could over or underexpose you, or they could use the wrong mAs or kVp, and will not get the best quality image that you deserve! So when you go to the doctor's and they say you need a radiograph, you have the right to ask whether the person taking the image is a certified radiographer. And if they're not, you have the right to get your doctor to order a radiograph, and go get a radiographer to take it for you. AKA keep me in business. Dr. Noble said they have been trying to get a licensure law in place for a long time, but it hasn't happened yet. I tell you what, that is something I'm going to work on. If not before I graduate, definitely after! We are one of only 8 or 9 states that still does not require licensure. We are first in flight.....but last in pretty much everything else.








We started Imaging Physics yesterday. It's actually really interesting, so far. We've been talking about how xrays are made, and about the tube and the different components of that. We've also been looking at screen-film imaging and digital imaging. Most clinical sites have digital, but some still have screen-film, and other smaller practices still have screen-film, so they're both important. We have both in our lab. A lot of what we're doing in this second half of the intro course is just skimming over things we'll be doing our entire first year, so not much of it has been too in-depth (or so that's what they say...) and a lot of it, our professor says "We'll get into that more next semester" or "next spring." So basically it's just an introduction.

Harry Potter tonight!!

We've been living with our eyes half open

I took 2 exams this past week, on the Abdominopelvis and Catheters/Tubes/Lines/Positioning. And I did very well on both of them! I have an exam tomorrow on Radiological Health and that's all for this week (since when does that happen?). Though that may seem all good, it just gives me time to get ready for next week....(are you ready for this?)...when I have 4 exams. Yes. 4. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. And that's probably only because Wednesday is a reading day. My final exams are Thursday and Friday. And then summer school is over!! It really has gone by so fast.

First of all, I'm having Ireland withdrawals. It's been 1 1/2 months since we got back. I miss it.




This is the view from the top of the Hill of Tara, where the Lia Fail sits.


This week we started our Thoracic unit in Anatomy, and Radiological Health in the other class. We start Imaging Physics tomorrow, after we take our Radiological Health exam for the first half of the class. Not much else went on in classes, since we had two exams AGAIN this week.

However, we did have a BS RadSci pizza lunch on Wednesday! The first and second year students and the professors all ate in the lab, and hung out. It was fun, except the second year girls ate all together, and that left the guys to talk to us. And the guys....weren't all that helpful. They told us that we shouldn't study all that much and all the shortcuts they took, which may or may not be helpful, but I feel like this program needs a lot more work than what they say they put into it. Maybe after my first year I can say the same as them, we'll see.

Now it's time to watch Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. It's Harry Potter weekend on ABC Family. I just got really excited about the midnight premiere a few minutes ago. I can't wait! :-D

there are no boundaries

I still haven't got my grade from the Patient Care/Isolation Control exam back yet. We are supposed to get them tomorrow in lab, so hopefully there will be good news! Last week was a short week because we had Friday off for the fourth of July. It really messed up my motivational equilibrium. I'm not okay with having two exams again this week. Alas, it is not my choice. I have an anatomy exam on Wednesday and an exam on Catheters/Tubes/Lines and Positioning on Friday. We've been looking on the cadavers at the abdominal region, and today we started looking at the pelvic region. This unit is a lot harder than the first one, in my opinion. Maybe because I don't want to get too close to the cadaver so I can't really have as much time with actually touching and reviewing as I did before. But in order to see the pelvic region better, and to have sagittal views of the structures inside the region, our professor bisected the pelvis. Meaning she sawed it in half. We now have a three-piece cadaver. Two legs/hips and from the ribs up. It's quite interesting...

We learned about positioning today, like how to name positions and projections and views. And different names for different positions, like the Trendelenburg position, the Sims' position, Fowler's position, etc. All used for different purposes and for different views of the anatomy. It's actually interesting stuff because I will be using it everyday. Tomorrow in lecture, however, we start Radiological Health and Imaging Physics. I haven't done the reading for that yet so we'll see how it goes................

If you WANT to see kind of what our cadavers look like, go here. Ours, however, has two separated legs and most of the stuff in the abdomen is missing, so we can see the posterior wall and its structures.

Here to There

Friday was supposed to be a short day, with class only from 9-11 but we had anatomy review in the room with the skeletons and bones from 1-3, for extra time with it. But it paid off! I studied a bit over the weekend, though not Davis Library kind of studying. And I made an A on my first exam! Bones just come easy to me now, for some reason. I don't have the same feeling about this next section, but I do feel better about it now that we are a couple days into it. I did get up an hour early (6:00!) to go early and study, but it turned out well. However, Monday was such a long day because I did get up early, I had my exam, right after the exam we went to the cadaver lab for the first time, had class from 1-3, and then CPR training and certification from 3:30-7! But I can save your life now, if you happen to fall out while I'm around. We even learned how to use the AED (automatic external defibrillator). It was such a long day, all I wanted to do when I got home was veg out. Which kind of happened while I was trying to read for Tuesday's anatomy class. But once I got through that, I started reading about Positioning Principles! That is some stuff that I can get into, because it actually will apply to my daily life.

The cadaver lab was something...We were only in there for about 15 minutes, because we had just taken an exam. My body didn't like the smell, though. I was fine, until the professor said that if you feel faint, just sit down or you can leave. Right then, I felt faint and lightheaded. So I got a stool and sat and was fine after that. I still refused to touch it or get extremely close to the cadaver, though. Today was much better! We were in there for a little over an hour, and though I still didn't touch, I did get pretty close and the smell didn't bother me too much. Except the male cadaver. Today we did the female first, and she was fine, but then we moved to the male to check out the pelvic region and he was kind of rank. In all seriousness. I do have to admit that it is fascinating, but maybe we can invent a way to do it so their smell is contained and I don't have to touch.

We had our first exam today in Patient Assessment and Care, Infection Control, and Medications and Contrast. I wasn't sure how I felt about it before we went in, but while I was taking it and right after I felt really good about it. But then I realized I think I was the first to leave. Which may not matter but I don't ever really like to be the first to leave. But I was. Whatever. Hopefully we'll get those back soon. After the exam I bought some scrub bottoms from the heatlh affairs store (carolina blue!) to wear to the cadaver lab. I don't do laundry enough to wear jeans there everyday! And in doing so, I think I might have found the style and size I need, and I can order my scrubs from allheart.com! I'll do that soon because I have to get them embroidered with the RadSci logo.

I'm going to veg out now, until 6:15 when I'm going to Zumba!!!

Role Play

Today was the last day of the Musculoskeletal section of Anatomy. Our first exam is Monday morning, on the enitre musculoskeletal system. AHH! No, really, I'm not expecting it to be that bad. Yesterday we studied the pelvis and lower limb, and finished up the lower limb today. When we first came in, we played a little game with Mrs. Renner, the director, and pretended the articulated skeleton was a patient, and we had to role play the RT. We had to introduce ourselves, get the "patient" to give their name and DOB to verify their identity, and then make sure what the requisition (order) we had received was what the actual patient needed. We were given a slip of paper with an anatomical name of what we were radiographing, which was the quiz part since we were in anatomy. The patients were people like Simon Cowell, Roy Williams, Holden Thorpe, Erskin Bowles, Paula Abdul. And Coach K was one of them too. I said he's unfixable. For the rest of the class, we reviewed. Primarily the lower limb and pelvis, but a little of the rest of the body, too. I feel pretty good about the exam so far, but once I actually start studying we'll see how much I really know!

Today in RadSci we had lab and we also did role play in there! Some of us were patients and had to give signs and symptoms to our "caregivers" and they had to figure out how to help us, which included figuring out what was wrong with us. I was hypoglycemic. It was pretty fun! I didn't expect it to be, I'm not a good actress. Though we did get to see the lab for the first time, with all the equipment in it, which was pretty cool. My friend and I found a back way to the lab, which we shouldn't have been able to do because our badges shouldn't be able to open some of those doors, but they did! It was an adventure.Tomorrow we finish up talking about medications and contrasts, and start catheters, lines, and patient care accessories. We've been looking at contrasts and different ways to give them, the side effects, etc. After our first year of the program, we choose a modality to work with in our summer internship and I believe our whole senior year. I had originally thought MRI (it IS only the second week!), but the downside of that is administering the contrast. I'm not sure how I could handle patients vomiting everyday. And sometimes in MRI you have to give enemas (in common terms, put stuff up the butthole). But besides that, it seems pretty cool! A couple of the other people I eat lunch with mentioned MR, too, so that would be fun to be in it together. Okay! Now you are up to speed.

Play-doh

Public Service Announcement: I do not have TB! Not that I thought I did or anything. We went and got our TB tests checked out on Friday, and then met with the Radiation Safety Officer (who is actually a graduate of our program). He talked to us about radiation safety obviously, which includes dosimeters/radiation badges, shielding, pregnancy, etc. It was interesting stuff, but mainly because I don't want to die from radiation so it's pretty important. Over the weekend I had some reading to do (anatomy) but mostly I worked on Medical Terminology, because our first quiz is due tomorrow. I did it today though and I passed!

Yesterday in Anatomy we worked on the Upper Limb and Thorax. Mainly we focused on the vessels and nerves of the upper limb and the rib cage. It is amazing how much stuff goes into anatomy, and also how much stuff I can remember and have already learned! Today we did the back, which most of our time was spent on the spine and the vertebrae. We did arts and crafts to help us remember:
This is a typical vertebra. Blue = body, Green = pedicles, Purple/Pink = transverse processes, orange = luminae, Brown = spinous process. I'm quite proud of our artwork. I also made a weiner dog (no picture available). Our first exam in anatomy is next Monday, less than a week! I'm sure I'll be prepared by then, but not yet!!!!!

Intro to Radiologic Science is going fairly well, too. I really like this professor - but she's pregnant so she will be leaving us mid-July to October. :( We started Infection Control today so we're learning about sterile procedures, how to keep a sterile field clean, the difference between medical asepsis and surgical asepsis, how to put on a sterile glove, differences between precautions (standard - everyone is potentially infections, airborne, droplet, contact, etc). Tomorrow we start meds and contrast, yay. I had my first lab today, and I learned how to take blood pressure! I do it better on the manakin than I do on a real person, but that's because it's electronic. I just need to practice more. I have low blood pressure, which I already knew.