New Experiences

Well this week has been challenging. I got to experience our first nasty patient. I didn't really have to handle the whole situation but I was involved more then I wanted to be. This individual patient had an aneurysm clip in his brain that was placed in 1998 and did not have a card for it. I had gone out to get the patient and collect his history when I became aware of this info. I then explained I was training and that the decision would be left to lead tech according their policy. My tech which is the lead MR tech explained for safety reasons for him, that she would not perform the exam. He threw a fit in the waiting room cussing at her in front of the other patients and intern left. She had explained the procedure in length and the problems that could arise and he insisted that he had previously had an MRI and everything went fine. She asked if he would like to talk to the Radiologist or her Boss and he stormed out screaming no and a few other choice words. Then he preceded to contact the Director by phone later in the day. All in all he did come back the next morning for the MRI in which another tech performed it and he stated that he did not want to see the lead tech again and that she was very unprofessional and nasty, which was totally a lie. I wasn't quite sure what was explained to him by the Director but I felt sorry for the lead tech, who was just following the policy that had been laid out. I hope the Director explained it was policy and that she was following protocol and that she spent the entire rest of the afternoon investigating his clip to find out if it was MRI safe. Oh well I suppose this is the first of many instances that this will happen, but I really had to bite my tongue. It was definitely a learning experience, especially on how the tech went about tracking all the info down. However, I am very amazed on how many people don't know what they have had done or do not carry cards with them on their stents or hardware that they have.

On a better note I have accomplished two of my comps and am going to try and get the last one this coming week. I am really getting to scan allot however only one of the techs will comp me out and I don't get to scan with her as often. I did get to see a breast MR and that was very interesting. It seemed to be very involved, much more so then the other exams I have experienced, it will be awhile before I try that one. I seem to deal with the different spine examinations the best. I was able to scan an MRA of the brain and carotids the other day (with help), we also had to do an MRI of the brain and neck, which made for a very long exam. The patient surprisingly did very well. Well I have got to go school shopping for my son so I will give more updates soon. Have a great weekend!