How to talk to your Clinical Instructor

1) Ask only one question at a time. Listen for the complete answer before jumping to the next.

2) Try not to preface your question too much with things like “I always thought that…” Get to the point.

3) Wait to ask a question when the individual really is able to answer it. Consider timing.

4) Speak up! Make eye contact. Stay in one place.

By the way, there’s so much knowledge and experience that doctors and nurses have. I continue to ask them questions myself. Hope you do too. Good Luck, Tim.

Don't Forget Your History

A radiologist called into a radio show I was listening to. He expressed concern over the limited history information he would get before he had to dictate an exam. Whether it be an MR, CT, sonogram or radiographs, he implied that technologists need to do more at pinpointing patient symptoms while in the exam room. Sometimes, he said, that’s all the radiologist will have to work with.

The guest on the show (not the caller) was Dr. Jay Grupman (sp?). He talked about his new book How Doctors Think. I haven’t read it, but from the interview, it sounds interesting. He focused on what a patient should do when symptoms don’t go away and he referred to a sort of cascading diagnosis that sometimes happens as people latch on to a diagnosis too soon. This can happen very quickly in an emergency room setting when everyone is in a rush with a lot of distractions.

I have a list of pertinent histories that are appropriate for chest x-rays, abdomen series etc. I show these to the x-ray students. I have to admit, however, that when I got this list from the radiologists, it seemed to me the emphasis was on coding and reimbursement rather than on narrowing down a patient’s condition. Now I try to place emphasis on just communicating with the patient to find out exactly what they’re problem is. Maybe chest pain is a little vague? And how long have they been S.O.B.?