Latest / Cat Scan Guru Podcast / EP. 88 Why New CT Technologists Plateau After The First Year

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EP. 88 Why New CT Technologists Plateau After The First Year · Cat Scan Guru Podcast

• 0:00
  Hello everyone, welcome back. Welcome back to the CAT scan
• 0:03
  Group podcast. Hope you guys are having a
• 0:07
  amazing week. So lots of things happening for
• 0:11
  the CAT scan guru as far as this brand.
• 0:14
  So let me kind of give you the rundown as far as A through Z on
• 0:19
  what is going on in the land of the CAT scan group podcast.
• 0:25
  So there is going to be a guest on the podcast.
• 0:28
  So working out the details on that.
• 0:30
  So when I drop that episode, you will know also, I'm starting to
• 0:34
  ramp up some educational stuff on the YouTube channel.
• 0:37
  So as it's been highly requested, I am putting together
• 0:41
  a patient centering course that I will go ahead and it'll be
• 0:46
  available on the YouTube channel so that you guys can have that
• 0:49
  readily available to you. Also do an A lot of protocol
• 0:53
  videos on my TikTok channel. So make sure you follow on
• 0:56
  TikTok, make sure you subscribe to the podcast, share with a
• 0:59
  technologist that needs to hear it and get some good advice,
• 1:04
  especially if they're brand new in CT.
• 1:06
  Also, if you haven't seen my videos or you haven't listened
• 1:10
  to the episodes lately, I have released a core CT protocols
• 1:15
  guide. It's in a bundle.
• 1:17
  So let me tell you what that bundle includes.
• 1:20
  So you get the either A physical form of the guide or a digital
• 1:24
  form. So both of them are available
• 1:26
  for purchase, whichever is your preference.
• 1:28
  So there's an audio series that you get and then two courses.
• 1:32
  I'm in the process of making a third, but it's going to take
• 1:35
  time. So you get a contrast media
• 1:38
  course with the purchase of the guide, whether it's physical
• 1:42
  digital. And you also get a course on the
• 1:45
  most common CT exams and protocols where I kind of
• 1:48
  breakdown each protocol where it's very easy.
• 1:53
  It's, you know, good explanation as far as the common exams that
• 1:58
  we perform NCT. So it's a really good starting
• 2:02
  point, especially if you're new. So everything is in the show
• 2:05
  notes. There is a link to purchase
• 2:07
  either the physical form of the guide or the digital form.
• 2:11
  So both forms include the correspondel.
• 2:14
  So make sure you guys check that out.
• 2:16
  Also subscribe to the YouTube channel because a lot of
• 2:18
  educational stuff is coming out on the YouTube channel as well.
• 2:21
  And plus you can get the video portions of this podcast on the
• 2:24
  YouTube channel, so make sure you subscribe and share with
• 2:27
  friends. So in today's episode, I'm going
• 2:31
  to be talking about why new CT technologists plateau after
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  their first year. Now I have dedicated myself to
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  making sure that the newer incoming technologists that are
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  cross training, maybe you're coming from a CT program or
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  you're a traveler, you're brand new and you haven't been in CT
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  very long, that you get the best information possible when it
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  comes to protocols, navigating in CT workflow, things like that
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  because those things are very important.
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  So a lot of techs do plateau after their first year.
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  And in this episode I'm going to dive into why.
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  So why some CT technologists grow fast, they advance quicker
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  and some stall out after their first year?
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  Well, I can tell you what the issue is and there's going to be
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  like a few pain points here, so stick with me.
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  Typically it's because texts get comfortable, they become
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  complacent. I have seen some texts become
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  lazy, so when you start to plateau after the first year,
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  you start to get comfortable and you're thinking that things just
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  don't apply anymore, which is further from the truth if you
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  really think about it. So a lot of reasons why they
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  plateau or you as a new technologist plateau is because
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  you're feeling stuck and you're not sure why.
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  You're watching others, other technologists just advance a lot
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  faster than you and you feel like you are just stuck and have
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  nowhere to go. You're frustrated, you're losing
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  your motivation early on. So this is a common phenomenon
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  that I see and there's several factors that really take place
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  when it comes to things like this.
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  There's a higher demand as far as exams when it comes to CT.
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  The ordering is just overly excessive, OK?
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  The amount of patience and throughput that we're getting
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  just increases every single time in every single year.
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  And then technology keeps, you know, advancing, which yes, with
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  AI and a different advancement tools and CT, yes, it's very
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  helpful. But patients are getting sicker,
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  patients are losing healthcare insurance, patients are afraid
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  to come to the doctor. And then by the time we see them
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  in the emergency department, they're like on death's door.
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  So there's a lot of factors that affect us because ever since
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  COVID, our workflow has really changed the way the dynamics in
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  CT and radiology departments, you know, operate as a whole.
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  So there's a lot of factors because we have such a high
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  patient volume, high capacity, the high, you know, over
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  ordering. And yes, I am going to say that
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  because that is the truth. So with those factors, you can
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  lose motivation, you get frustrated, you feel stuck, and
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  it's very easy to plateau after your first year.
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  But I always say that it's not the end of the world because
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  there is a solution to that. And a lot of things that I see
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  as well is, is that after the first year, I've seen a lot of
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  technologists just stop studying, stop educating
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  themselves, stop learning, and they settle into this good
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  enough phase. Like, what the hell is that?
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  No, we want to get you out of that good enough phase because
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  when it comes to CT, it's very complex.
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  And when it comes to radiology as a whole, things are changing
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  every single time, every single day, every single year.
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  Because something you may have done last year, it's completely
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  different this year. Technology is advancing.
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  So we have to stay on top of the education, the learning.
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  That's why we do see, but learning is not just only OK
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  satisfying your CE requirement. Learning is an ongoing thing.
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  So you have to continue to educate yourself and never stop
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  learning. So what is the answer to this
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  problem? How can we make sure that if you
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  are not as fast as your peers, what can we do to make sure that
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  you don't plateau after the first year and decide, well,
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  maybe this isn't for me and I want to quit.
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  You know what we have to do? We have to adopt A simple
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  strategy. So when it comes to structuring
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  your training, especially in departments, you have to have
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  something structured, something that is easy for them to follow,
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  something that they can go ahead and say, yes, we're doing XY and
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  Z. And yes, I know how to set up an
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  exam. I know how to set up my room.
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  I know how to set up contrast, all the simple basics that every
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  new CT technologist needs to know, needs to be a solid
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  structure and strategy. It's like the foundation of a
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  house, OK, You need to know the basics.
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  You know, the foundation of the house is everything because you
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  can't have a party at your house if there's no foundation,
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  there's no walls, there's no nothing, right?
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  So here are a few things that I think every new technologist
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  needs to know. And I say this in every episode,
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  but I want to drill this into your brain because it's super
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  important. Number one, have a notebook.
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  You have to write things down. CT, you can't memorize
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  everything. We're not basing our training
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  off of memorization because that's not what we're doing.
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  OK, You have to write things down because that's super
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  important and that's how you remember things.
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  Memorization, when you write things down, you tend to
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  remember that more often and then you can refer back to it.
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  Then the next thing is you really have to audit how your
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  workflow is, how you set up your exams, how you're checking what
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  exam they're ordering to what the clinical diagnosis is.
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  You know, just simple things, verifying, you know, allergies,
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  verifying labs, you know, audit your workflow on how you set up
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  your exam from start to finish. Those are the simple things.
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  I know we don't have time to look through everybody's chart.
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  We don't have time to, you know, read the notes and things like
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  that. But just some simple things so
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  that we don't create big Sentinel events or big mistakes
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  to really audit your workflow really, really helps and your
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  throughput and making sure that you have all your checks and
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  balances just dial down. Also get rid of unnecessary
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  steps, OK? There's some things in CT that
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  are just fucking redundant and we don't need to do OK.
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  So it's just the tedious tasks that you have to do.
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  I know one of the tedious tasks that we got taken away from is,
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  you know, scanning paperwork into packs.
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  I can't tell you that our radiologists are like, what the
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  hell is this? What are we doing here?
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  You know, we have Epic that is like integrated into this.
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  Now I know some facilities and I'm not knocking anything.
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  Yes, they have. Your radiologists have you
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  scanning paperwork still. And if that is your protocol,
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  that's what you continue to do. But I know for us it's a high
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  capacity level 1 trauma hospital.
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  We have to get things done quickly and scanning a bunch of
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  paperwork is not something that we have time for, you know, and
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  besides scanning consents that you know, we have to do, which
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  now they're becoming more electronic.
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  Just the tedious paperwork because of an old system that we
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  used to have before Epic came on board on to our hospital.
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  We were doing all this paperwork and it was just an unnecessary
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  step. It was an unnecessary task.
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  It's something that just, it was a waste of time because nobody
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  was actually looking at that paperwork.
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  So any unnecessary steps that you can think of to make your
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  workflow and just how you set up everything and you go ahead and
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  set up your patients, set up your exams and get optimal
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  images, get rid of If it doesn't help you get rid of it.
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  The last thing is tracking your progress, seeing how you're
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  learning. Everything is based off
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  consistency and repetition and practice.
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  It has nothing to do with how smart you are.
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  OK, yes, you can be smart and still do all those things, but
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  there are some people that are book smart and have no freaking
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  clue what they're doing in that scam room.
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  And I can vouch for several people in several facilities
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  that I've worked at that yes, you may be very book smart, but
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  you had no fucking clue what you were doing in that scam room.
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  And that's not the technologist you want.
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  You want the technologist that knows what they're doing out
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  there, not what they know out of a book Yes, for the test you
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  need to know all the book smart stuff, right?
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  However, when you're dealing with somebody's life in your
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  hands and you are injecting medications, because contrast is
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  a medication, you have to know what you're doing out there.
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  OK, So how this all just comes full circle is you get quicker
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  execution, you get better clinical judgment, you make
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  better clinical decisions as far as is this test really necessary
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  for the patient? Is this the correct test for the
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  patient? Maybe I should talk to the
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  radiologist about this, maybe the order and physician to order
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  this instead of that. You get better judgement when it
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  comes to that, especially when you go ahead and you do these
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  simple steps. You also get respect from senior
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  technologist, OK. And I know at some places I've
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  worked at that was hard to do. Like I went through the grit and
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  paid my dues. I grinded, I took all the shitty
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  shifts, you know, everything. And at some point, you know,
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  they're like, OK, so a lot of it has to do with respect from
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  other technologists, especially the more experienced ones.
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  And I always respect, you know, techs that are new, that just do
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  the grit grind and just, you know, put forward and learn and
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  ask questions and really are just motivated to expand.
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  And I respect techs like that. Professional growth just beyond
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  being just a competent tech. A lot of people have, and I've
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  seen this all over social media. A lot of people think that there
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  is no growth when it comes to radiology.
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  There is a lot of growth because I've seen a lot of technologists
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  get PhDs. They go into public health, they
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  become public speakers, they go into applications, they work for
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  Stryker and these medical device companies.
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  There is a lot of growth because when we have new, you know, new
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  devices and things, things like that, that we're implementing
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  into our scans, a lot of them come from Stryker and it's very
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  helpful if they have ACT technologist or even a X-ray
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  technologist that is part of that team so they can execute
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  what, you know these ordering physicians want.
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  So there is a lot of growth in possibilities when it comes to
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  being in the radiology field. So if you want to move past
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  survival mode, because CT and I saw a TikTok on this once, like
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  we are the rebels, like we scan 1st and we ask questions later
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  and I will stand 10 toes down on that because that statement is
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  very freaking true. So if you want to move past the
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  survival mode and making sure that you don't plateau and
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  actually really hone in on your CT skills and define them and
• 13:49
  make sure that you know your core exams and know your stuff,
• 13:52
  the core CT protocol calls guide bundle will help you with the
• 13:55
  basics. So make sure you check out the
• 13:58
  show notes for that because I go ahead and give you some simple
• 14:02
  courses to kind of dial in and everything you need to know,
• 14:06
  especially if you're brand new, share with your friends.
• 14:09
  Somebody out there needs to hear this because you know what?
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  I know there are you the new CT technologist that is cross
• 14:16
  training and I know you feel lost.
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  So this episode you need to listen to even if you don't
• 14:21
  listen to it a few times. OK, so make sure you check out
• 14:24
  the show notes for the core CT protocols guide bundle.
• 14:28
  You can get it in two different ways, a physical or a digital
• 14:31
  version of the bundle. And also make sure you follow on
• 14:34
  TikTok cat scan guru because I do a lot of educational stuff as
• 14:38
  far as on TikTok. And make sure you subscribe to
• 14:42
  the YouTube channel. Make sure you subscribe to the
• 14:44
  show so you can get the latest and greatest on podcast
• 14:47
  episodes. So thank you so much for joining
• 14:49
  me in this episode and I will catch you in the next episode.