Nurse Technician Research Paper

The administration of contrast media to a patient with the purpose to examine their internal organs could have dangerous side effects or reactions to the patient. These effects can average from mild to severe, however, sometimes they can lead to instant death. This article retrieved from the American Association for radiologic technologists, simnifically describe in detail the history of the use of contrast media in the CT department and other modalities. In addition, the article emphasizes and addresses important issues such as the osmolality or ion state of the contrast media, the distribution and excretion, the adverse effects, the systemic or idiosyncratic effects and non-categorized effects that the distribution of contrast media could have in patients. Moreover, the author talks about who in a community is most likely to be a risk and impacted from those procedures, also how these effects and reactions could be treated depending on the severity of the reaction and the time period that it was detected after the contrast administration to the patient.

In the Nuclear Medicine department, the two most common procedures performed are bone scans and VQ scans (ventilation/perfusion scan). During a Nuclear medicine procedure, the patient is either injected or inhales radioisotopes, which then causes the patient to become the source of radiation that is picked up by a gamma camera. A VQ scan is a two phase scan that requires the patient to be injected with a radioisotope and inhale a gas infused with radioisotopes. This scan is used to determine the blood and air flow of the lungs and detect possible pulmonary emboli. The radioisotopes used for this exam include radioactive Xenon gas and technetium. As for the bone scan the patient is

The nurse generalist assumes many roles, and often the nurse fulfils these roles simultaneously each shift. Some roles of the nurse generalist include, but are not limited to: patient advocate, educator, communicator, delegator of care, leader, care provider, evaluator, and professional. Each role of the nurse generalist is essential in optimizing patient safety and quality of care. Patients and their families rely significantly on nursing staff, more so than any other discipline, to meet their physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. Additionally, the patient and their family depend on the nurse to competently and confidently manage their care, by advocating for patients’ rights and wishes to be respected, educating the patient and family

However, when pediatric patients are scanned the best resolution is not always achievable due to attempting to reduce radiation exposure (National Cancer Institute, 2012). In order to make a diagnosis, one does not necessarily need the highest quality; lower resolution scans are diagnostic (National Cancer Institute, 2012). Image quality and radiation dose is most influential by tube current, gantry rotation time and detector type. The CT technologist can lower the kvp in order to increase contrast resolution which results in a decrease in patient dose. When making changes to kvp, always check the CT dose index value on the scan to ensure the dose is being maintained and not degrading image quality. Another important technique to include in reducing patient radiation exposure is pitch. Pitch is important to dose because as pitch increases, radiation dose decreases. Pitch is determined by table speed, collimation, and gantry circle

In the class, it has been stressed that there is an importance to lower the radiation dose to the patient. It is important to lower the dose of radiation because it reduces the chance of radiation induced complications. It is the one of the priorities of a radiographer to reduce the radiation dose to the patient. This article was informative of another way to reduce the dose to the patient. Radiation dose for all patients should be reduced as much as possible because radiation does have harmful effects and should be limited throughout a year. The project was done to “determine if having a laser targeting system would decrease the radiation dose by eliminating unintentional radiation prior to localizing the region of interest” (Schenk & Johnston p. 39). The idea behind laser targeting was to limit and reduce the time it took to do the procedure, by reducing time exposed to radiation it lowers the dose to the patient. The laser “aids the technologist in properly aligning the c-arm in the desired position without exposing the patient to radiation” (Schenk & Johnston p. 42). Before the radiation dose was higher because the part of interest was located while radiation was occurring. Now to know that the laser can locate the part of interest before exposing the patient to radiation will help allow me to reduce patient dose if there is a laser with that particular fluoroscopic machine. Even though this experiment was done using pediatric patients, it is relevant information for adult patients as well because it is important to lower radiation dose regardless of age. This information will be helpful in the future because fluoroscopy is a common procedure and if there is a laser available on the machine, it should be utilized so radiographers and students can help reduce the radiation dose to that patient especially, now that it was found to have some effect on

Nuclear medicine uses computers and radioactive material to make images of the body to diagnose many forms of cancer, heart disease, gastrointestinal, endocrine, neurological disorders, and other irregularities. The procedure is usually painless. The patient has to take radiopharmaceuticals, or radiotracers before the exam. These are drugs that are injected, swallowed, or inhaled as a gas that emit radio waves from the area being scanned. During the exam the radiotracers give off tiny amounts of energy also known as gamma rays. Special computers detect the gamma rays and interpret them into pictures of the area examined. Nuclear medicine imaging differs from other exams in the fact that regular exams picture the structure and anatomy or the body. Nuclear medicine imaging focuses on the chemical reactions and physiologic processes that go on inside the body, like brain activity or rates of metabolism.

The radiopharmaceutical is only effective for a limited amount of time due to its half-life. FDG, for example, has a half-life of only 110 minutes.(Carlton & Adler, 2012) For this reason, it is imperative that the patient arrives on time and the injection and subsequent scan are done as scheduled. Additionally, PET can give false results if the patient has eaten within a few hours of the exam, especially if it was something high in sugar content.

The following are some examples that are detected by this diagnostic tool: cancer, brain disorders, heart problems and problems in the central nervous system (Healthline, 2015). One of the brain disorders that PET can detect is Alzheimer’s disease. The patient would be advised not to eat or drink anything for 4-6 hours prior to the exam. The patient is injected with a dye called a radioisotope to demonstrate the function of a body part to rule out a diagnosis. Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) is the most common radioisotope used in PET. After the patient is injected, the radioisotope is absorbed by the tissues and organs (Dolson, L., 2001). When PET is used as a diagnostic tool for cancer, the clinician is then able to see how the malignant tumor is developing or if it has moved to other areas. It also allows the clinician to see how the malignancy is reacting to chemotherapy. PET scans show problems at the cellular level, therefore giving your clinician the best possible view of complex systemic diseases (Healthline, 2015). The tracers are normally out of the patient’s system within two days after a PET scan, but the patient should drink plenty of fluids afterward to help speed up the process of expelling the tracer.

Due to the various advancements of technologies in the field of radiography, sometimes it can be difficult to choose with imaging modality can be used to provided the best care for the patient and diagnose Clinicians must be aware of the potential benefits and drawbacks of each imaging modality to balance its use with healthcare costs, radiation dose to the patient, as well as patient safety.

According to Adler “a fluoroscopic machine looks very similar to radiographic units with the addition of a fluoroscope in a tower on the back of the table (Adler 98).” Having the fluoroscope allows for really time images so that the radiologist

As an example: patient can be given a dye injection to detect arthritis or other conditions. Depending on the chemical substance used, the radiopharmaceutical concentrates in the part of the body being investigated, for example the skeleton, lungs, heart or liver, and gives off gamma rays. Bone scanning technique is being used to detect radiation from a radioactive substance (technetium-pp methyldiphosphate). When injected into the body, it collects in the bone tissue, as the bone tissue is good at accumulating phosphorus compounds. The substance accumulates in areas of high metabolic activity, and so the image produced shows "bright spots" of high activity and "dark spots" of low activity. Bone scanning with nuclear medicine can be an important step in diagnosing and assessing treatment of various kinds of cancer, including breast cancer. On an x-ray, one might see that the bone is not broken, but on a bone scan, physicians can see metabolic changes caused by fine fractures, small tumors, or degenerative diseases such as

To protect the patient, the length of time that a patient remains in the path of the x-ray beam should be minimized. Therefore, it is important for radiographers to avoid unnecessary repeats and thus unnecessary exposure. Gonad shielding should be used on patients if possible, which is particularly important for young patients. In addition, proper collimations and adjusted exposure factors should be applied according to patient situations to minimize radiation dose (7).

Nuclear Medical Imaging (NMI) uses small amounts of radiopharmaceuticals or radiotracers to diagnose, evaluate and treat a variety of diseases such as cancer, heart disease, gastrointestinal, endocrine, neurological and skeletal disorders (McKinnis, 2014; RadiologyInfo.org (2014b). In comparison with other radiographic procedures, except for intravenous injections, NMI is noninvasive and diagnoses disease based on the physiological or functional changes of the tissue, organ, bone or system within the body rather than structural changes of anatomy (McKinnis, 2014; RadiologyInfo.org, 2014b; Smith, n.d.). These radiotracers are either injected, ingested or inhaled as a gas into the body and absorbed by the organ or area of the body to be examined

So many people say saving lives takes hard work and extensive training, but are they really dedicated to do the work it takes. Medical school takes hard work and so much time to do the work as being a nurse. Being a nurse you have to have the heart and the great skills to be the best care giver you could be to a patient in need for help. Not only are you impacting someone else life but you are also impacting yourself with the great benefits they offer you, the way the patients acknowledge you by your hard work. Nurses make sure they have the care they need. Nursing is one of the most longest working shifts in the medical field you will ever experience.

Medical imaging is a field that is in constant development. Chances are that you or someone you know has been scanned using technology that’s dependent on radiation. While the first X-Ray was done as early as 1895 (British Library), today’s popular Computed Tomography scans, or “CT Scans”, first originated in the 1970’s and since then, have been improved dramatically, as far as speed, power, and image quality is concerned (Beckmann). With the rapid development of these CT Scanners, comes the dangers of the radiation emitted by these machines, which has not been given its due attention throughout history. According to Dr. David Brenner, a leading radiology expert from Columbia University: