humble one Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 Hi my name is Marcus I"m currently a register MRI technologist , radiographer and prior Army medic. I'm currently taking pre-class before I can apply to a pa program. Did anyone work as a radiographer or etc while in school. Was it a good Ideal? What if any did being a radiographer or etc, benefit you while in the program? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marilynpac Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 Your army medic is considered high quality hce.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted May 16, 2011 Moderator Share Posted May 16, 2011 your hce is good. the army medic will stand out more than the mri tech however as it is more "hands on" with patients. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
humble one Posted May 16, 2011 Author Share Posted May 16, 2011 Hey I appreciate the feed back and words of encouragement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SCHMITTIE120 Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 guy in my class was an x-ray tech, he kills it in anatomy and was way ahead of most of the class when it came time to learn to read x-rays, CT scans and MRI images. But he is around the middle of the pack when it comes to patient skills and doing an H&P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeoTrion Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 mri wont count for much?... iv starts, pushing contrast and watching for reactions, dealing with patients siezures while they are in the tube, keeping people with metal on them out of the room of until you remove the patient durring a code, dealing with inpatient transport and screening of medical implants to keep the patient from dying due to the magnet field, working on intubated patients... lot of responsibility, and a lot of stress. would it be better to go back and get certified as a cna or emt-b so you can get some more of that patient contact? no. medic experience is awesome. so is MRI. Well I have had my fair share of codes between X-ray and CT. Your pretty much on your own if someone has a contrast reaction while you are working. I don't see to many CNA's with ACLS or PALS. Besides getting Radiologist up to run a code isn't the easiest thing. We usually run the show until the ER doc and/or crash team arrive. The codes I have I usually get swallowed up in because of my experience. Not so much in nuclear, but I have to agree with PAMAC in MRI. We always have at least one sedation in MRI that we do. Not to mention when the ER / OR docs ask you for your opinion. I have never been an army medic, but I would think an RT ® (MR) would carry some weight on the experience side. Nothing like pre-reading a nuclear med or MRI exam to a clinician when they are to chicken to ask questions from one of the Rads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted May 17, 2011 Moderator Share Posted May 17, 2011 I don't know any xray folks who start their own lines. maybe different elsewhere. and "running the code" in xray means calling the code and doing cpr for 30 seconds until the er team shows up from 50 feet away.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted May 17, 2011 Moderator Share Posted May 17, 2011 The rn's start all the iv's at all 3 facilities I work at and the last 10 I have worked at or been at as a student. so, like I said, I have never seen an xray tech start an IV. in fact if a pt gets to ct or mri without an iv the techs call for a nurse to come start 1. I did say it may be different elsewhere. I have seen the techs push the contrast. xray tech is adequate experience for pa school, I was just making a personal observation about iv's and xray techs running codes..didn't mean it as a slam. I would say the same thing if a hospital nutritionist or u/s tech talked about starting lines and running codes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted May 17, 2011 Moderator Share Posted May 17, 2011 You probably don't see phlebs running around either because whoever starts your iv gets a rainbow. But outpatients need plenty of love, and they don't come prestuck. That's why I was confused and sore. Man, your world revolves around emergency med. yup, nurses( or er techs) draw all the blood/start all the lines in the dept and if they can't get it they call the iv nurse team and if they can't get it they ask us(at which point I will probably go for the EJ or IO as the nurses are much better at lines than I am). I'm aware that my world view is warped by 24 years in the er. ( what's an outpt? someone who hasn't made it to the er yet?....:) ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted May 17, 2011 Moderator Share Posted May 17, 2011 It's a busy trauma ctr(90k/yr) with a lot of new grad nurses so having an IV therapy/vascular access team makes sense. they also do the picc lines. they respond to the er as well as the floors. most of them can start a line in a piece of vermicelli under a carpet so if they don't get it I'm looking at the neck(for the EJ) and the legs(for the IO). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
humble one Posted May 17, 2011 Author Share Posted May 17, 2011 I actually start my own Iv's and have been since being in the field. Now their are some facility where nurses start all the Iv's. From talking to other techs they mainly due this so techs can focus on scanning. Truthfully some people don't fill comfortable starting their own iv's and if you don't do it enough you lose it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeoTrion Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 Wow things must vary. We get calls from the floor to nuclear to come start hard IV's. Then again I work a pediatric hospital and we put in IV's all day everyday in nuclear. I have never heard of an IV start team, but perhaps that is something I need to push for here. For us it is just part of the job. I can't call someone to start a line for me when I have to inject something. Between nuke and CT I would get nothing done. Plus this kids are masters at pulling their own lines out, and you end up putting a new one in anyway. But even when I was training it was something you either mastered or you picked another career, especially in nuke and PET. We also have our own pic line crew with just one of us and a nurse going room to room with ultrasound and putting in lines all day. We run the codes until the ER department gets there, and that why we have to have ACLS and PALS. But honestly I didn't think Radiology departments varied that much from state to state. There are times we run our own stress tests and are told "hollar if you see an abnormality." Of course that is mainly from nuclear side of radiology. I have also worked in cath lab, specials, and done guided biopsies with just me serving as the scrub tech with the doc. Of course I have to at least be able to start an IV, and load up whatever they need. I have had to put IV's on the scalp, foot, edge of breast but basically if I can see it its fair game to our rads. We also access ports as long as we have had the proper training the rads sign off on the training. Like I said if we had to wait for a start team for the patient flow we have, we would get very little done. In Nuke that is why we start our own, because that way we know that 5 to 10 grand dose didn't infiltrate. Nurses are not to allowed to inject radioactive materials, and most doctors can't either unless licensed by the state or NRC. So that pretty much leaves us to either get access with and IV or straight stick since we are licensed. Either way you have to get to the next patient. EMEDPA I think you have me convinced to ask for a pay raise.... LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeoTrion Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 ( what's an outpt? someone who hasn't made it to the er yet?....:) ) LOL nice quote!!! Mind if I use that next time I am on call!!! LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marilynpac Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Iv start team? Fancy. Nothing like that here yet. But I actually do like our ed folks. I can't complain much at all. And the docs are fantastic. Salt of the earth. Nothing fancy about it...we've had it here in the outback for about 25yrs.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeoTrion Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Something to I might have to look into. Every hospital I have worked at here in Texas never had start teams. There were always the people you could call if you hit someone real difficult, but no start teams. Always interesting to see the other ideas out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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