Chapter 12 Flashcards
Effective communication
-Verbal messages and body language
-Encourages reduction in anxiety and emotional stress
-Enhances the professional image of the radiographer as a person who cares about the patient’s well-being
-Increases the chance for successful completion of the x-ray examination
Communication between the radiographer and patient is effective when:
-Verbal messages are understood
-Nonverbal messages(unconscious actions or body language) are understood as intended
Two types of motion
-Voluntary
-Involuntary
Voluntary motion
Motion expected to be controlled by the patient
Inability to control voluntary motion attributed to?
-Patients age
-Breathing issues
-Anxiety
-Physical discomfort
-Fear of exam
-Fear of prognosis
-Mental instability
Involuntary motion
Motion that can not be willfully controlled
Examples of involuntary motion
-Chills
-Tremors
-Muscle spasms
-Pain
-Active withdrawal
How can you compensate for involuntary motion?
decrease exposure time with an appropriate increase in mA to maintain sufficient mAs
What can you as a tech do to help patients with involuntary motion?
immobilization
Protective shielding
the potential for radiation exposure to radiosensitive body organs or tissues of a patient require the use of intelligent patient positioning and/or personal shielding to reduce or eliminate a radiation dose that would otherwise result in biologic damage
What areas should be selectively shielded from the useful beam?
-Lens of the eye
-Breasts
-Reproductive organs
-Thyroid glands
What did AAPM say on shielding?
Patient gonadal shielding and fetal shielding should be discontinued during diagnostics imaging procedures and should be discontinued as routine practice
What is the first step in gonadal protection?
Collimation
CARES committee:
Created to educate the profession regarding the AAPM gonadal shielding position statement
Shields for the lens of the eyes
Contact type and are positioned directly on the patient
Technical Exposure Factors
Appropriate selection is essential to ensure a diagnostic image with minimal patient dose
Technical Exposure Factor Considerations
-Mass per unit volume of tissue of the area of clinical interest- Body Part
-Effective atomic numbers and electron densities of the tissues involved- High or Low #
-Type of image receptor
-Source-to-image receptor distance (SID)
-Type and quantity of filtration employed- Lead, what grid ratio
-Type of x-ray generator used- High frequency, three phase 6 pulse
-Balance of radiographic density or brightness and contrast required
Technique Exposure Factors
-Use of standard technique charts
-When AEC is not used, to ensure uniform selection of technical x-ray exposure factors, each x-ray unit should have a standardized technique chart
-radiographer if responsible for consulting the technique chart before making each radiographic exposure, to ensure a diagnostic image with minimal patient dose
-A patient’s specific condition and history must also be considered when selecting technical exposure factors
How to reduce dose to patient?
Use of high kVp and low mAs
15% Rule
You have a good technique but desire to give the patient a LOWER dose
Increase the kVp by 15% then half the mAs
Postprocessing of the radiographic image
-Correct image postprocessing is essential to produce high-quality diagnostic images
-Software artifacts
-Patient related problems
-Image receptor artifacts
Quality Control Program
-Includes regular monitoring and maintenance of processing and imaging display equipment
-Promote quality assurance by decreasing the likelihood of producing suboptimal quality images, repeat exposures, unnecessary absorbed patient dose and incorrect projections
Air Gap Technique
-Reduction of scattered radiation
-As an alternative procedure instead of using a radiographic grid for reducing scattered radiation during certain examinations, an air gap technique can possibly be used
-Can be used on lateral c-spine and areas of the chest
-Used by increasing OID
-Results in LESS scatter radiation reaching the detector, decreases image blur, improves image contrast
-Will cause magnification
Repeat images
-Consequences of repeat images
-Additional exposure increases patient dose
-Repeats resulting from carelessness or poor judgement on the part of the radiographer must be eliminated
- An additional image, when recommended by the radiologist for the purpose of obtaining additional diagnostic information, is permissible
Increase in repeat rates
-Approximately 5% and up as high as 17%
-Positioning errors
-Due to ease of repeating an image
-Repeating an exposure to improve an acceptable image is unnecessary and increases patient radiation dose
Reasons for unacceptable images
-Patient mispositioning
-Incorrect centering of the radiographic beam
-Patient motion during the radiographic beam
-Incorrect collimation of the radiographic beam
-Prescence of external foreign bodies
-Postprocessing artifacts
Benefits of a repeat analysis
By determining the number of repeats and the reasons for producing unacceptable radiographic images, existing problems and conditions in an imaging department will be identified
