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EP. 99 The Difference Between the Average CT Tech vs. A Strong CT Tech · Cat Scan Guru Podcast

• 0:00
  Hello, hello. Welcome back everybody.
• 0:02
  Welcome back to this CAT Scan group podcast.
• 0:05
  Hope you guys are doing amazing. And yeah, starting to look like
• 0:09
  summer here in the Midwest. I'm so freaking excited about
• 0:13
  this. So I know I've talked about this
• 0:15
  in multiple episodes. So if you haven't checked out my
• 0:18
  TikTok channel, make sure you check it out, make sure you
• 0:21
  follow along. I am doing a series right now
• 0:23
  where I am doing a muscle mommy series getting ready for summer.
• 0:28
  So in the next 60 days, I am taking my fitness journey kind
• 0:33
  of to the next level. And yeah, because my goal is to
• 0:36
  be a muscle mommy. Fun fact, I am a mom, so I can
• 0:40
  call myself a muscle mommy. Not that nobody else can because
• 0:43
  they can. So fitness has been something
• 0:45
  that's been a part of my life for a long time, even though
• 0:47
  I've started and stopped as many times as I can count.
• 0:51
  But this time for the last three years, it really stuck in 24 was
• 0:55
  probably one of the toughest years I had.
• 0:58
  It was filled with a a lot of failures and heartbreak and
• 1:03
  things like that. So yeah, it really just, you
• 1:07
  know, when you get tired of your shit, you just lock in and you
• 1:10
  get shit done. So make sure you go check that
• 1:12
  out and also I have all your CT resources and needs with courses
• 1:18
  and guides. Pocketbook, make sure you guys
• 1:20
  check out the show notes for that.
• 1:21
  Make sure you check out the YouTube channel, subscribe to
• 1:24
  the YouTube channel. Got some good, good educational
• 1:28
  videos coming out for that because as there have been some
• 1:31
  CG registry prep courses that have been asked popular demand.
• 1:35
  So going to give you guys the goods.
• 1:37
  So make sure you subscribe and subscribe to the podcast here.
• 1:40
  Make sure you share with the CT technologist that you know needs
• 1:44
  some guidance and can use some educational tips.
• 1:48
  So make sure you follow along and share everything will be in
• 1:51
  the show notes for your CT needs as far as protocol guides and
• 1:56
  courses. So let's get into today's
• 1:58
  episode. In today's episode, I'm going to
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  be talking about what the difference between the good ol
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  average tech versus a strong tech.
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  Now there is a difference between both of these and I know
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  this episode is probably going to be a little triggering for
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  some people, but stick with me here because there is a
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  difference and I'm going to give you some tips to improve on how
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  you can be a stronger tech. Now there is a difference
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  between the average tech and a strong tech.
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  So the difference between that is, is when you have just the
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  average tech, they kind of do like the bare minimum.
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  I'm going to use a really bad example.
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  It's kind of like a man or woman in a relationship where they
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  just do the bare minimum shit and you put up with it.
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  OK, so that's no dig to anybody, but that's the best example that
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  my brain can come up with is you just have a technologist that is
• 2:49
  there. They'll do the minimum.
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  They know their way around some things, but they don't take the
• 2:54
  initiative to get more education, improve their skill
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  set in learning something new. So they kind of say average,
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  which we see a lot of that OK versus a strong tech.
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  The tech you can depend on the tech that when shit goes wrong,
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  that's who you want by your side to make sure that they run that
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  code with you, that if something happens to the patient, they
• 3:16
  know exactly how to handle the situation and help you out.
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  The tech that is strong with their skill set and says, and
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  you have a question, say, hey, I'm not sure about this protocol
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  and you guys go over it together.
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  The tech that helps you out when you've missed 2 Ivs and they
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  come in boom, it's engaged in the right AC.
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  The tech that as far as they can, who they can contact and
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  who they can call when shit goes wrong or if the floral is not
• 3:44
  working on ACT machine for a biopsy, they know exactly how to
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  fix it. So you kind of get my point as
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  far as what's a strong tech versus a average tech, OK,
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  Because there's clearly a difference in both of those, OK?
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  So one of the things that I can point out as far as an average
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  tech is, you know, they tend to try to memorize things.
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  We know NCT, we can't memorize everything, OK?
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  They just memorize. They really don't understand
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  what is going on. They react to things, OK?
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  They hesitate. So that's why I say they do the
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  bare minimum, you know, when it comes to their skill set, kind
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  of like a man who does bare minimum in a relationship or a
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  woman that does bare bare minimum in a relationship.
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  OK, I know that's really bad examples, but that's you kind of
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  get my point where I'm going with this.
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  OK, so how do we create a strong tech?
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  So how do we do this? We make sure that you understand
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  what's going on, make sure you understand your protocols, make
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  sure you understand the whys, make sure you understand how to
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  adjust or how to fix something or prevent a mistake.
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  And then instead of reacting, they anticipate, OK, if this
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  patient's going to be combative, what can I do to keep them calm?
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  Or if the patient is not understanding that, what can I
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  do to help them out to explain the exam better?
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  And then a strong tech is going to make quick decisions.
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  OK, so if a patient looks like they are going to possibly throw
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  up, they're going to react. Make sure they've got that you
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  know emesis bag for them or if you know the is not functioning
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  properly, they're either going to restart it or get the nurse
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  to help them out. So there's a lot of quick
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  thinking that goes when you are a strong tech.
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  Okay, so they think on their feet, but being a strong
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  technologist doesn't come overnight.
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  It takes practice and lots of repetition in just really
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  improving your skill sets and continuous learning to become a
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  very strong tech. OK, now a lot of techs tend to
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  stay average by choice. Their choice, OK, And so they
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  feel stuck in just being average, but they want to
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  improve, but they don't know how.
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  There's lots of ways that you can improve, you know,
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  continuing education. We have to make sure that we do
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  that, you know, every two years, never stop learning your skill
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  set because there's lots of new things that come out every
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  single day, or should I say every single year.
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  As far as when it comes to CT, you know, ASRT has really good
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  direct readings where you can, you know, read different things
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  on diagnosis, you know, really learning, you know, your
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  pathology to be a lot stronger when you see something and you
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  have to kind of alert the radiologist and say, hey, this
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  looks like it may be positive. So honing in on that skill set,
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  you know, and going to seminars, you know, there's all kinds of
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  things online. You know, CT is us, they always
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  do all kinds of seminars and things like that.
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  MTMI does seminars so you can actually get involved or even
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  your society in your state get involved because they do a lot
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  of continuing education and even improving your skill set while
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  you're there asking questions, writing things down, you know,
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  learning your protocols. I have an excellent reference in
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  a pocketbook that you can, you know, kind of get you started,
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  you know, for your CT training, it's available in the show
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  notes. So you don't need more time, you
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  know, to say, okay, I'm going to hesitate, I'm going to react.
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  You don't need more time to do those things.
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  You just need better thinking and better thinking skills and
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  to make sure that you can make quick decisions and you
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  understand what you're doing on on that floor.
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  OK, so like I said, there's a difference between an average
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  tech and a strong tech. You want to be a strong tech.
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  You got to invest in yourself, guys.
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  That is the whole point. You want to be the best
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  successful technologist you can to execute better care to the
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  patients, OK? Because the patients, when
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  they're with us, even though it's for a short time, their
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  life is in our hands because at any time something can go wrong.
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  OK? So you want to be that strong
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  technologist that knows what they're doing in the room, not
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  just behind the console, OK. And you know how to go ahead and
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  act quick in case something happens to the patient or
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  something happens during an exam.
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  So you have to, you know, have quick decision making and make
• 8:03
  sure that you understand exactly how you're going to execute that
• 8:06
  exam. OK, so that is all for today's
• 8:09
  episode. I like to make my episodes nice
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  and short and bite sized so I can give you as much information
• 8:15
  as possible. So make sure you guys check out
• 8:18
  the show notes, follow along on TikTok and Instagram, follow
• 8:20
  along on the YouTube channel. Make sure you subscribe,
• 8:24
  Subscribe to the podcast so you get all your CT resources and
• 8:28
  educational needs. Thank you so much for joining me
• 8:31
  in this episode. I will chat with you guys in the
• 8:33
  next episode.