Introduction to Radiologic Technology

WELCOME TO RADIOLOGIC

TECHNOLOGY!!!!

Chapter 1: Introduction to Quality Customer Service

• The patient is healthcare’s customer• Radiology is an expensive department

within the hospital (equipment, procedures)

• Becoming aware of your surroundings enables you to better understand your role as a student technologist

• Quality customer service including quality management is very important in radiology

JCAHO

• What is JCAHO?• The Joint Commission on Accreditation

of Healthcare Organizations• They stipulate that a patient/family

complaint system must be in place and made available to all patients and families

• You as a student are a part of the healthcare delivery system and must become familiar with it’s functions

Patient’s Perspective and Patient Satisfaction

• By knowing what the public perceives about health care delivery we can attempt to focus on how to provide services.

• This is accomplished regularly in hospitals by passing out surveys to patients (and also to employees)

• In one survey performed, the top two factors that were important to patients when choosing a hospital were: #1-latest technology and equipment and #2-courtesy of hospital staff

Customers

• Who are the customers?• Outside customers are patients, families, physicians

and other within the community.• Inside customers are members of other departments,

coworkers, radiologists.• Remember that coworkers are customers too; this

makes for a better working environment.• Project a professional image to all outside customers

(suppliers, sales reps, etc.) They spread the word about what kind of service they observe while at your facility.

Moments of Truth

• Moments of truth are the points at which patients form perceptions about the quality of service being given and the quality of care.

• Moments of truth are affected by physical appearance of the work area, appearance of the technologist and the professional behavior of everyone involved in their visit to the hospital.

Customer Service Cycles

Role-Playing Skit on page 11

Telephone EtiquetteAnswer a ringing phone in the department within 3 rings if

possible.

Answer professionally- Radiology Department, this is Amber, May I help you?

Speak clearly, pleasant and unhurried. Smiling while you speak will automatically make you sound more pleasant.

Once you know the caller’s name, use it.

If you must put the caller on hold, ask their permission. When you return, thank them for holding.

Become comfortable with the telephone system so that you can properly use it’s functions (transferring, etc.)

When the call has ended, thank the caller and wait for them to hang up first.

Conflict Resolution

This is the age of consumer awareness and increased competition (and lawsuits); it is imperative that patients are handled in the most professional manner possible.

Conflict resolution is important when dealing with patients, coworkers and physicians.

The two most important tools to use in conflict resolution are effective listening and empathy.

Effective listening- tells others we respect what they have to say and are here to help them.

Empathy- understanding and accepting the other person’s position without necessarily agreeing or disagreeing; very difficult in stressful situations.

Critical ThinkingChapter 4

What is critical thinking?

• Many have defined critical thinking in lots of different ways. Basically, we can define it as ‘making wise decisions based on a set of universally accepted values’. The JRCERT (Joint Review Committee on Education in Radiologic Technology) requires critical thinking as part of our curriculum to further enhance student competence.

Characteristics of a Critical Thinker

• Humane

• Analytical

• Rational

• Open-minded

• Systematic

• Inquisitive

Things that Hinder Critical Thinking

• Background beliefs (religious, cultural traditions, parents, past teachers)

• Faulty reasoning (from biased or false information)

• Group loyalty (social groups with sets of acceptable behaviors)

• Frozen mind-set (closed-minded)• Emotional baggage (logic vs.

emotion)

Steps for Becoming a Critical Thinker

• Approach learning humbly and with an open-mind

• Have respect for others• Self-awareness- when we are aware

of our own standards and ethics, we can objectively make decisions and act responsibly

• Hone your skills- practice makes perfect; even in critical thinking!

The History of MedicineChapter 5

In the beginning…….

• We can only speculate about human practice of pre-historic medicine

• All of the ancient cultures had various beliefs about healing and medicine.

• The embalmings of the ancient Egyptians have provided us with much of our knowledge of ancient medicine

• The ancient cultures shared a common bond in medicine- religion was always linked to the medicinal practices.

Hippocrates

• The “Father of Medicine”• His ideas revolutionized medicine

from the ancient past and began turning it into an objective science.

• His teachings were:– Observe all– Study the patient rather than the

disease– Evaluate honestly– Assist nature

Christianity and Medicine

Dawn of Christianity changed many attitudes about medicine

The healing message of Christ started to spread and the church dominated medicine during the Dark Ages with prayer, exorcism, holy oil, relics of saints, supernaturalism, and superstition.

Jesus’ ministry did not differentiate healing into physical, mental, or spiritual categories. Luke the physician was the author of one of the gospels in the Bible- here compassion, forgiveness, and concern for the unfortunate and dispossessed is emphasized.

The RenaissanceParacelsus: the “father of pharmacology”

Andreas Versallus: the “father of anatomy”

Lots of medical discoveries were made during this time period.

The Eighteenth Century

Giovanni Battista Morgagni: the “father of physiology”

Jenner formulated the smallpox vaccine

Through experimental surgery, John Hunter developed a way to close of aneurysms.

The Nineteenth Century

• Autopsies were a major focus of medicine during the nineteenth century

• Advances in surgery• Joseph Lister discovered that bacteria were often the

origin of disease• Pasteur discovered that the decay of food could be

forestalled by heating and destroying the bacteria• Gregor Mendel was the founding father of genetics in

1886• November 8, 1895 Wilhelm Roentgen founded x-rays

while working in his lab

20th Century

• Ehrlich: “father of chemotherapy”

• Einthoven: first EKG• Surgical techniques refined• 1930- invention of electron

microscope

Medicine in the 21st Century

• Trend emerging toward a more personal healthcare

• Research into genetics has greatly changed knowledge about heredity and disease

• Biotechnology has opened doors in treatment that were once unimaginable

Important Definitions

• Health: a state of complete physical, mental, and social well being, and not merely the absence of disease or imfirmity.

• Disease: the pattern of response of a living organism to some form of injury

• Mortality: death rate• Morbidity: occurrence of disease• Emerging infectious diseases: diseases

of infectious origin whose incidence in humans has either increased within the past two decades or threatens to increase in the near future

Top 3 Causes of Death in US

• Heart disease

• Cancer

• stroke

Chapter 6

Historical Perspective

of Radiology

The Pioneers of Radiology

• Evangelista Torricelli: produced first recognized vacuum with the invention of the barometer (1643)

• Guericke, Boyle and Sprengel: experiments with vacuum tubes (1659, 1865)

• Isaac Newton: built and improved the static generator• Benjamin Franklin: conduction of many electricity experiments• Abbe Jean Antoine Nollet: significant improvements of the electroscope

(a forerunner of the x-ray tube).• William Watson: demonstrated a current of electricity by transmitting

current from a jar through wires and a vacuum tube• Michael Faraday: electromagnetic induction (led to production of better

generators and transformers for use in x-ray tubes)• Johann Wilhelm Hittorf: experiments with cathode rays• William Crookes: furthers studies of cathode rays (Crookes tube)• William Goodspeed: produced first radiograph in 1890 (not credited for

discovery of x-rays)• RL Maddox: produced film with gelatin silver bromide emulsion (1871)• George Eastman: produced and patented roll-paper film (1884)

Discovery of X-Rays• Discovered on November 8, 1895 by Wilhelm

Roentgen• Roentgen worked at the University of

Wurzburg and did many experiments in the physics department with the cathode ray ‘Crookes Tube’.

• X-ray: x is the mathematical symbol for unknown quantity

• Roentgen proved that by continuously producing the fluorescent effect of barium platinocyanide, he had produced some sort of x-ray

• Roentgen made the first successful radiograph of his wife’s hand using a cassette loaded with a photographic plate in which he directed the rays from the tube.

• The bones in her hand as well as two rings were clearly visible

• This was a major breakthrough in the history of medicine

You can’t see, touch, taste, smell or hear……………

• The public did not understand the principle behind x-ray production (and they still don’t!)

• Entrepreneurs tried to capitalize on the discovery with items such as x-ray glasses, bone portraits, and x-ray units for the home to provide entertainment for guests

• Finally, Thomas Edison questioned the effects of x-rays after his eyes were sore and red after working with a fluorescent tube

• After these reports emerged in the US and Europe, serious efforts were made to protect those who worked with the rays. Today, a career in x-ray is as safe as any other career (with the proper work habits and precautions).

Advancements of the Roentgen Rays

• First x-ray in the US was made by Michael Idvorsky Pupin (professor at Columbia University) on January 2, 1896

• Thomas Edison did work focused on fluroscopy (real time x-ray)• Clarence Madison Dally was Edison’s assistant and suffered severe

radiation damage due to the experiments in fluroscopy; Edison immediately stopped his experiments.

• Pierre and Marie Curie are credited with studies in radioactivity (the property of certain elements to spontaneously emit rays or subatomic particles from matter)

• Marie Curie received the Nobel Prize in 1911 for her work in chemistry

• She continued to study radioactivity and developed approx. 20 mobile radiographic units and 200 installations for the army. After training herself as an x-ray technician, she trained French soldiers and gave x-ray classes to American soldiers.

Nuclear Radiology

• Nuclear radiology is the branch of radiology that deals with using radioactive materials for medical diagnosis and treatment.

• 1932= cyclotron invented by Ernest Lawrence. It made it possible to accelerate particles to high speeds for use as projectiles.

• 1942= as a result of breakthrough by Enrico Fermi at the University of Chicago, atomic devices were built and tested experimentally. Shortly after, these devices were introduced as weapons and used on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.

Technical advancements in radiology are overwhelming when

looking back at where it all started. Technology will continue to

advance at a rapid rate- you will see many advancements just throughout your educational

journey.

Chapter 7

Radiography Education: From

Classroom to Clinic

• Daily tasks range from communications and psychology to artistic expression in the productionof the radiographic image to physics, anatomy, physiology and chemistry.

• To the novice, the work performed by a well-educated registred tech may seem methodic and lacking challenge.

How to treat patients:

• Interact with them

• Establish and maintain an atmosphere of caring and empathy for the patient

• Treat the patient as a guest in the home

• These things become more difficult when dealing with the elderly, terminally ill, small children or the handicapped.

Chapter 9 and Chapter 10

No powerpoint notes, just lecture and class

discussion

Chapter 11

Imaging: Life Cycle and Quality