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Take 8: Fluoro Goes Live!

Date: June 5, 2017
Location: St. Luke's Elmore Clinic
Time: 0830
Duration of exam: 1 hour

This was it... my first day, my first hour, my first live exam.  "Zoe, we have a shoulder Arthrogram case if you want to join in."  I was so excited about this opportunity, especially to finally rock the bright pink Nike glasses that I had bought for a real life fluoroscopy exam!  Olivia, the tech I was assisting, was so knowledgeable and really prepared me for everything that was about to take place during the exam.  Everything from the supplies needed, room prep, the doctor's personality and preferences (such as image display: viewing the image in either negative or positive contrast. Bone will appear black in negative contrast.), where I should stand and what to watch out for, procedure duration, patient care, and more!  My greatest fears were if I were to accidentally contaminate sterile field, not understand what the doctor wanted had he asked me a question or wanted me to assist in some way, or that I'd pass out as I watched a needle the length of a hose being poked and drawn out of a patient's shoulder. Thankfully, none of my fears came to pass.  The experience was phenomenal! 

This is how it went down...

We greeted and confirmed the patient.  After the patient had changed into a gown, we discussed with the patient what he/ she could expect during the procedure, and then covered patient history and reason(s) for exam.  Afterwards, we relayed to the radiologist ("the rad") what information we had gathered from the patient and told him the room and patient were ready for him.  People had warned me not take anything personal from the rad because his personality isn't very warm or outgoing.  They were exactly right about that, ha!  Though he was kind to the patient and staff, he's not the type of guy you're going to get a fist bump from.

Once the rad came into the exam room, we assisted him with image display, prepping the injections, positioning and shielding the patient, and assisting in whichever way we could. When we weren't assisting and when fluoro was activated, we stood either directly behind the doctor about eight feet back or behind the leaded wall to help reduce our dose.  The most time consuming part of this exam was getting the injections ready.  After that, it was a breeze. 

After the procedure, the patient changed back into his clothes then another tech walked him over to MRI for the second part of the exam.  During this transition time of getting the patient changed and sent to MRI, we'd take this opportunity to clean up the room, send off the images taken by the rad, record the dose limits, and begin prepping for the next exam.  Stay tuned for Take 9 about Dose Limits!


Dose Limit: 8.3 uGy*(m^2)
Number of images: 1
Fluoro Duration: 12 sec.


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