Digital Radiography Essay

There are two very divergent viewpoints across the medical provider landscape as to whether radiological testing is used too much or not enough. The basic equation comes down to a balance between being sure that certain conditions and disorders are not in play and not wasting time/money and/or exposing the patient to potential harm due to the fairly dangerous nature of being exposed to too much radiation.

| ▪Decrease waiting time.▪Reduce crowding during the lunch period.▪ Increase patients.▪ More convenient especially for employed patients who want to do physical examination.

Benefits Increase quality of care Bedside charting access Ability to access your patients records at one time All information in one place

How Information System’s Assist: The facility states that it offers their physicians and patients access to the “latest high-tech imaging services, digital medical technology and specialized equipment.” This equipment includes the use of digital radiology imaging, digital echocardiograms and digital cardiac catheterization. The facility also uses an Electronic Medical Record system, which they claim enhances patient safety and maximizes physician connectivity. Having this equipment helps the facility differentiate itself from its

Radiologic Technologists, also known as "R.T.s", are professionals who are licensed and certified as specialists in one or more imaging techniques. In the contrary, a Radiologic Technician is a licensed and certified professional who only operates the x-ray imaging equipment to produce clear concise x-ray images for the physicians. A Radiologic Technologist is able to perform all the duties of a Technician. However, they are also tasked and considered as expert for their particular field of specialty.

Imagine this: ten seconds left in your regional high school basketball game, and you go up for a layup, but when you come down you land on your ankle wrong. You’re sure it’s broke, and you need an x-ray. So what happens when you go to the hospital? Will the doctor take the x-ray or will someone else take it? When a situation like this happens, a person will go see a doctor, but a radiologist technician will be the one to take the x-ray. A radiologist technician, also known as a radiographer, performs imaging examinations such as x-rays, MRIs, and CT scans on patients. To become a radiologist technician, people will need many years of schooling, but once the schooling is completed, it will be well worth it for the benefits and pay.

What are the differences between professional component and technical component of radiological services? Knowing the difference is extremely important because the difference can mean a monetary difference to the physician, on how much reimbursement will be. Knowing this and knowing which to bill for also makes an important difference. The professional component covers what the physician does, which is the interpretation, and nothing else. The technical component covers any equipment used, facilities, non-medical staff, and supplies, everything needed for the procedure, except the physician. We also should include the global billing, because that is when all charges, including the physician, and the equipment, facilities, and such were completed at one location. Global is a combination of professional and technical charges because all services were performed at one location. There are modifier codes that are added at the end of the procedure codes that indicate what type of service that is being billed.

These images call for up to 90% less radiation than with standard film type x-rays. Instead of making use of the traditional silver-oxide x-ray film that must be formulated and then fixed in caustic and ecologically harmful solutions, the new system calls for pictures by way of a small digital sensing unit and it then immediately sends a Image of the tooth on to the video monitor in the treatment room. Therefore, we can easily see your teeth and surrounding components Instantly. Not only does the new digital x-ray do away with the typical wait for x-ray film to be prepared, but it also is highly sensitive, so that patients are exposed to even less radiation than with conventional x-rays.

Owing to the increasing need of healthcare specialists, the radiology technician field is growing by leaps and bounds. Education and training in this field is both crucial and mandatory because of the fact that technology is in flux. Radiology technician schools train students in order to prepare them to step into the world of radiology by acquainting them with the knowledge required to use the machines in their line of work. Some of the machines that they will be required to operate through the course of their study are CT scanners, MRIs and X-ray machines. If you have your eyes set on this career, you will want to select radiology technician school that suites your needs.

Firstly, the advantages of early diagnosis enable patients to be treated earlier and faster, which is very important for a lot of diseases and problems. Early diagnosis from these medical applications save many lives and helps many people. For example, chest X-rays have allowed for the early detection of tuberculosis in miscellaneous chest infections, which may have otherwise been left undetected and eventually death.

Healthcare has evolved tremendously over the last few decades. Technology, being one of the biggest impacts has reached new heights and has advanced our learning and knowledge to places unimaginable. Many different modalities take place in the health field to ensure the greatest treatment for everyone with improving outcomes. Three modalities that have enhanced and have taken special roles in 3-D imaging include, CT scans, MRI, and Ultrasound; each with their own advantages and disadvantages. These modalities all require training, are cost effective, and take a specific amount of time to obtain all the necessary information. These same modalities have different traits regarding the use of radiation, contrast, evidence

Tracking patient history, medications, procedures and other information is much easier and communicating this information with other providers is much more effective.

The EMR system is better for some doctors because it eliminates the unclear handwriting, thus cutting down on the unclear writing mistakes by doctors. The patients have been released from the hospital at a rate of at least one day earlier than the patients with paper records and these bills were almost $900.00 less than when they used the paper records. There have been many deaths each year because of the wrong medication being written on the prescription paperwork and a pharmacist misread the handwriting on the form. If this information is typed the chances of making a mistake are less. There are also EMR systems that diagnose diseases and treatments, which is another advantage. Just imagine how fast the patient can be healed if a computer program can predict the results of an illness by entering the symptoms such as a device that searches for glaucoma via computer generated images, the analyzing of mammograms and the ultrasound device to analyze lumps in a females breast that determine if it is benign or cancerous. Most of the time these computer systems have accuracy rate of 80% or more which is the last advantages that we will talk about today.

With the equipment that we have today and with the digital radiography images we are decreasing exposure by 80% in patients. Believe it or not, your appointment can be shorter to the dentist with the advances in the technology. With the use of digital radiology, the x-ray is developed in minutes, rather than using the traditional x-rays to where you have to wait till the images are developed. Also, with digital you are helping the environment, due to the fact that there are no chemicals, or film that needs to be developed or used they go straight to the computer in an image.

There are always going to be advantages and disadvantages in anything that is developed in the area of technology. MRI is no different.