Latest / Cat Scan Guru Podcast / EP. 93 The Mistakes New CT Technologists Keep Repeating (Without Realizing It)

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EP. 93 The Mistakes New CT Technologists Keep Repeating (Without Realizing It) · Cat Scan Guru Podcast

• 0:00
  Hello, hello, welcome back everybody.
• 0:01
  Welcome back to the podcast. Hope you guys are doing great.
• 0:06
  So I just want to take the time to thank everybody for
• 0:10
  purchasing the core CT Protocols guide and the CT pocketbook.
• 0:16
  If you don't know what I'm talking about, I have created
• 0:19
  some awesome resources for you. So I have created a guide.
• 0:25
  So it's an 8 1/2 by 11 guide to help you with your training and
• 0:31
  there's even a note section in there to take some notes.
• 0:34
  I also created recently ACT pocket book of protocols, so I
• 0:41
  put in more protocol. It is a pocket size where you
• 0:44
  can put it in your scrub pocket and take with you as your
• 0:47
  training. And they also come with two
• 0:50
  courses and an audio series when you purchase is either the guide
• 0:54
  or the pocketbook. So make sure you check out the
• 0:57
  show notes. Everything is in there.
• 0:59
  So yes, good stuff. I'm also in the process of
• 1:03
  making sure that courses are for CE credits.
• 1:06
  That is a very long process through the ASRT.
• 1:09
  So give me some time guys, because I will get that
• 1:12
  accomplished. Currently, I have one course
• 1:15
  through RAT CEU providers that is ASRT approved for four Ceus.
• 1:22
  It's like a crash course. It's ACT one O 1 basics that I
• 1:25
  kind of go through all of it and I go through different sections
• 1:29
  and you can get that available today to you.
• 1:32
  I believe that course is like $38.
• 1:34
  It's through RAD CE providers, So I'll provide the link in the
• 1:38
  show notes for you. So in today's episode, we're
• 1:40
  going to be talking about the mistakes new CT technologists
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  keep repeating without realizing it.
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  Now, I was a new tech at one time.
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  I know it's been many years, but I was a brand new tech and I
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  can't tell you how many mistakes I made when I was learning and
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  training. And mind you, this is the days
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  before CT boot camp. So basically you learn from
• 2:04
  whoever you were training under. And we have like a few CT books
• 2:08
  and they were to review stuff for the registry.
• 2:10
  That was pretty much it. MIC, I think at that time the
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  they had the CT registry review book.
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  I'm not sure that the cross trainer was available at that
• 2:21
  time. I'm not 100% sure because I know
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  that was the only book that I bought when I was training.
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  So these were like the dawn days before any of those types of
• 2:31
  programs or courses or anything were even available.
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  I know a lot of people have, I've asked me about CT boot camp
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  and I'm like, that was not a thing when I was training and I
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  started training in CT in 2003. So I had just passed my X-ray
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  registry and that's when I started scanning.
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  So that was like 23 years ago. So that was not a thing.
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  But there were so many mistakes that I made and I've learned
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  from every mistake that I did and made sure that I did not
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  repeat those mistakes. Now you are not stuck in CT OK,
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  I want you to hear me when I say this.
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  You are not stuck. You're just repeating the same
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  mistakes and there's no correction and there's nobody
• 3:13
  behind you to say no. This is how we're supposed to do
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  it. One of the things that is a very
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  big pet peeve of mine and it really irritates the shit out of
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  me is when people say, well, this is the way we've always
• 3:28
  done it. No, just because this is the way
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  you've always done it doesn't mean it's the correct way.
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  So what I see is, is that I see a lot of new technologists
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  repeat the same mistakes because there have been nobody to
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  correct them and say, or there have been technologists that
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  say, oh, well, it's OK, it's OK. You know, it's not a big deal
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  when sometimes it is a big deal. So the problem that we face is,
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  is that there's no feedback or you know, constructive feedback
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  given, but the same habits repeat button pushers.
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  So we want to stop the bad habits.
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  We want texts that actually know what they're doing.
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  Now, how does this feel to a new technologist?
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  Well, they feel like they're not improving because they're
• 4:13
  repeating the same habits over and over that are not correct.
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  They're doing the same thing every shift or every time they
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  every day that they trained and there's nothing that is
• 4:23
  happening. They're doing just the same
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  workflow, the same process. And there's no structured
• 4:30
  training that you know, like a checklist or something to guide
• 4:34
  them in how to do something correctly and then not knowing
• 4:38
  what to fix. So if you're not being told what
• 4:41
  mistake you're doing or what mistake is happening or where
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  you're messing up, how do you know how to fix it?
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  OK, now one thing I'm going to tell you because I always preach
• 4:52
  about repetition and practice is going to make you a tech, a
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  better technologist. OK, here's the thing.
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  Cannot result in improvement with these reoccurring mistakes.
• 5:04
  So when you repeat these mistakes and it's repetition to
• 5:07
  keep doing them over and over. So I'm going to give you an
• 5:10
  example, you know, injecting the wrong patient or scanning, you
• 5:15
  know, executing A protocol and not scanning the, you know, the
• 5:19
  correct scan range. OK.
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  Or if they say in an order in the comments, they said, you
• 5:25
  know, please scan, you know, to the thighs usually on males if
• 5:30
  they're looking for some kind of to stick killer abnormality.
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  And you don't follow that. And the technologist who's
• 5:36
  training you is like, oh, well, it's OK.
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  And you keep repeating that same mistake and not knowing why when
• 5:41
  the patient has to come back for more images.
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  So repetition can improve if you continue making the same
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  mistake. And then my all time favorite,
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  and I know you technologists are sick and tired of hearing me say
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  it is poor positioning. I've had to have many
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  conversations even with students that come in shadow CT about how
• 6:00
  important patients centering is. Patient centering is very
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  important because that is going to calculate the correct amount
• 6:07
  of dose for that type of exam. Whatever exam it is that you're
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  doing, doesn't matter if it's a head, if it's an abdomen,
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  pelvis, if it's a runoff. It's going to tell you exactly
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  if the system is going to calculate it correctly and if
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  your exam is going to be optimized.
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  So you can't be lazy and have shitty ass positioning.
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  I can't stand it. We got to get it right.
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  That's why your laser light exists in, that's why you use it
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  to make sure you center your patient correctly.
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  And then of course, there's a contrast timing that is
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  incorrect. So I know that there are lots of
• 6:42
  technologists in my department and everybody injects contrast
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  at different rates, different amounts, Whatever the case is, I
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  never correct any of those technologists because they've
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  been there for years. And you know what, from how I do
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  it versus they do it, we get the same type of exam, you know, the
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  same image quality, it's the same.
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  So who cares there OK, but we need to make sure that we teach
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  the newer technologist that he when it comes to contrast timing
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  that we tell him OK for an abdomen and pelvis, this is the
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  amount of time we're waiting. Now I know different facilities
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  have different times. Some facilities do 60 seconds,
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  some do 65, some do 70. It depends on what your site
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  protocol is. I know at my facility we do 65
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  seconds. There's been other facilities I
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  worked at, they do seventy others 60.
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  It just depends. But if you just tell them, oh,
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  we're just going to wait this amount of time and they don't
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  ask you a question and then all of a sudden they miss a bolus,
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  then what? So we have to make sure that
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  we're educating them on the proper contrast timing when it
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  comes to different exams and then skipping patient prep and
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  exam review. One of the things as a new
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  technologist that I was always taught is to make sure that you
• 7:53
  review your orders versus the protocol that you're going to
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  scan. So making sure that you review
• 8:00
  the order, what the order is for, what they're looking for,
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  why, you know, if they're, you need to look up labs, pregnancy
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  on women, if they've had, you know, allergies, if they've had
• 8:09
  other studies, you know, things like that.
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  It takes you a quick 5 minutes to kind of look through that,
• 8:13
  right? So we can't skip the patient
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  prep, you know, given the pay, if the patients are alert and
• 8:19
  ambulatory and they can speak to you, you know, educating them on
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  what you're going to do, what's going to happen during the exam,
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  if you're giving them contrast, what are the side effects and
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  what they should feel during the exam.
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  You know the amount of time the exam is going to take.
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  Make sure that they hold still, they follow breathing
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  instructions, all the patient prep that needs to be done.
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  I see a lot of that gets skipped, OK.
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  And then asking the patient if they have any questions before
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  that you start OK, because sometimes they do.
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  Now we also need to be very intentional when we go ahead and
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  correct some mistakes that new technologists make because we
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  want positive, constructive feedback.
• 9:01
  We don't want it to sound negative, like they're doing
• 9:03
  something wrong and they don't know anything and saying, well,
• 9:05
  you don't, you're not catching on.
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  That's not how we should act. We should say, OK, is there
• 9:10
  something that you and understand, OK, so for next
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  time, hey, I noticed you did this.
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  This is how we actually are supposed to do it.
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  So let's see if we can just execute it this way next time
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  just to be positive in in that way.
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  Because when you correct mistakes, they learn better.
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  And then they say, OK, this is what we're not to do.
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  And then if they have a question on this doesn't look right, they
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  can come to you and ask you about it.
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  OK, So what does that do as a result?
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  So their skills grow a lot, a lot faster.
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  They become more confident in that, and they become more
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  confident in scanning and making sure that their thinking process
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  is good and their decision making process is good.
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  And then you get a lot more optimal exams when you have
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  correct patient positioning, make sure timing is good, make
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  sure your IV is good, you get nice contrast enhancement.
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  Then it all flows together because CT is not hard.
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  I think we overcomplicate it because yes, it is a complex
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  modality. Yes, there's a lot of moving
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  parts and yes, we are busy as fuck, OK, But I can tell you
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  that those that are hungry to learn will stick with you and
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  watch and learn and just jump in to make sure that they are
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  learning what they're supposed to, OK?
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  Like they will watch first and then they say, no, I want to
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  take over. Sure, no problem.
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  OK, so and that's how we build successful, just more confident
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  techs that know how to take care of their patients really good.
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  OK, So there are a lot of gaps when it comes to training and
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  what I'm trying to do is trying to close the gap so that we set
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  up these technologists for success.
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  So the protocol bundle and that pocketbook helps you fix those
• 10:53
  gaps in your training and all that stuff is in the show notes.
• 10:56
  So that is it for today's episode.
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  I hope that was insightful. Make sure you share it with
• 11:02
  somebody that needs to hear it too.
• 11:03
  OK, So if you have any questions, you can always e-mail
• 11:07
  me all your questions. I am always happy to answer
• 11:10
  them. I answer all my DMS and as many
• 11:13
  comments as I can on TikTok because I get a lot of comments
• 11:16
  every day. I mean, I get over probably 100
• 11:19
  to 150 comments and just a bunch of DMS every day.
• 11:22
  So I do my best. So I'm very grateful.
• 11:25
  Thank you all for continuing to listen to the podcast because
• 11:28
  without you, this would not be possible.
• 11:30
  So thank you so much for listening to this episode and I
• 11:33
  will chat with you guys in the next episode.