Latest / Cat Scan Guru Podcast / EP. 84 CT Workflow Basics Every CT Technologist Needs

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EP. 84 CT Workflow Basics Every CT Technologist Needs · Cat Scan Guru Podcast

• 0:00
  Hello, hello. Welcome back everybody.
• 0:01
  Welcome back to the podcast. Hope you guys are having an
• 0:04
  amazing week and hopefully January is treating you very
• 0:07
  well since we are just in the middle of the first month of the
• 0:13
  year. OK, this is probably where
• 0:16
  people are like, yeah, New New Year's resolutions, which I know
• 0:20
  I, I talked about this like in the last podcast episode or even
• 0:23
  the one before that, that I really don't do New Year's
• 0:27
  resolutions. I create, you know, a plan and a
• 0:31
  goal for myself and I execute it for 90 days and then I move on,
• 0:36
  you know, once that 90 days is over and create a new goal so
• 0:39
  that it keeps me consistent during the year.
• 0:42
  So yes, so lots of good things happening for the Cat Scan Guru
• 0:47
  podcast. So make sure you guys check out
• 0:50
  the latest previous episodes because I talk about my new
• 0:53
  protocol book. So it's a general protocol book
• 0:56
  for all technologists out there. Whether you're new, seasoned,
• 1:00
  need a refresher, doesn't matter or you're going through a CT
• 1:03
  program. It is basic general protocols of
• 1:06
  all the protocols I've ever used ever in my career, I've kind of
• 1:10
  gotten it together. So it gives you a clear
• 1:13
  structure so you can have a guide while you're doing your CT
• 1:15
  training. And this applies even to
• 1:18
  travellers too, if you're a traveller because you go to
• 1:20
  adult a lot of different facilities and you learn a lot
• 1:23
  of different protocols. So this is very useful for you
• 1:26
  as well. So make sure you guys check that
• 1:28
  out. Link is in the show notes, OK?
• 1:30
  Also make sure you guys subscribe to the podcast, send
• 1:33
  it to a technologist that needs help in their education
• 1:38
  training. These podcast episodes are very
• 1:40
  useful for them. So make sure you share it, like
• 1:43
  subscribe the whole 9 yards. Make sure you subscribe to the
• 1:46
  YouTube channel because I've got a lot of good things coming to
• 1:48
  the YouTube channel with more educational material,
• 1:51
  educational videos on there and all the protocol videos that I
• 1:54
  do on my TikTok page, they're all in a playlist there.
• 1:57
  So go check them out. OK.
• 2:00
  Also, if you need help as far as a structured way to excel in
• 2:06
  your CT program, I have a course that is 3 courses into one.
• 2:11
  So it is the CT blueprint where I go over protocols like basic
• 2:18
  common protocols, I do contrast media and I give you the INS and
• 2:22
  outs of what you need to know as a beginner in your CT training.
• 2:26
  So everything is LinkedIn the show notes, so make sure you go
• 2:29
  check that out. So in today's episode, we are
• 2:32
  going to be talking about CT workflow basics.
• 2:35
  This is everything I believe a new technologist needs when it
• 2:39
  comes to your workflow in CT, especially when you're doing
• 2:43
  your training. Even if you're a seasoned
• 2:45
  technologist, this is something that could apply to you as well
• 2:48
  or a traveler. It doesn't matter because as far
• 2:51
  as workflow, like it does change from facility to the facility
• 2:55
  that you work at, especially if you're a traveler and you go to
• 2:57
  new places, if you're a new person or sometimes the
• 3:00
  department, you know, the workflow does change.
• 3:02
  I know ours has where they've incorporated some things which
• 3:06
  it can improve the workflow, but it could also make things a
• 3:10
  little bit as far as getting the work done a little bit in in a
• 3:14
  sense give you too many steps. OK, so is what I'm trying to
• 3:18
  say, but you know, that's what departments do to try to figure
• 3:22
  out how to improve things in the department when it comes to
• 3:26
  leadership and turn around times and things like that.
• 3:29
  Not that we necessarily agree, but you know, it's for the needs
• 3:32
  of the department and that's pretty much what they do.
• 3:37
  OK, so these are some workflow basics that I think as a new
• 3:41
  technologist, season traveler, whatever the case is that I feel
• 3:45
  you should need. Now we're going to be talking
• 3:46
  about, you know, decision making when you're on the shift, you
• 3:49
  know, real life scanning logic, patient safety, because those
• 3:54
  are things that are really incorporated into your workflow.
• 3:57
  So daily decision making. So deciding on, you know, how
• 4:01
  many exams need to be scheduled, especially when you look at your
• 4:05
  work list. Now you have those inpatients
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  that you have to fit in when it comes to, you know, your ER
• 4:10
  list, your ICU's and all that that gets ordered.
• 4:14
  So basically decision making on what takes priority.
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  Now we all know that stroke books, traumas, ER patients are
• 4:23
  usually at the very top of that list, OK?
• 4:26
  And then we have to fit in, you know, those stat ICU's, you know
• 4:29
  those stat in patients. And we also have to fit in, you
• 4:33
  know, those routine patients as well.
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  OK, So we're just talking about just the, the, the bread and
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  butter. We're not talking about, you
• 4:40
  know, cardiacs or biopsies because that's a separate, those
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  are two separate things, OK? We're just talking about your
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  bare bones, you know, just everyday scanning, everyday
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  decision making. So we have to fit in a good
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  workflow on how we go ahead and schedule these patients.
• 4:58
  So this is what I do now. I know when I'm running the
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  charge desk because usually all of us get assigned, you know,
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  weekly on if we're going to do biopsies, we're going to do
• 5:07
  cardiacs, we're going to run the charge desk or you're just going
• 5:09
  to be a tech tech on the floor scanning whichever for the
• 5:12
  cases, right? So decision making is, you know,
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  I look at the work list every single day and you know, when
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  I'm on the shift and seeing how many ERS are ordered, you know,
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  how many routine patients are ordered, how many ICU's, if
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  there's any stats when it comes to ICU or inpatient, you know,
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  if there's pediatric patients, because the facility I work at,
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  the hospital I work at, we are attached to a pediatric
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  hospital. So we kind of incorporate those
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  things. Usually if I'm running the
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  charge desk, you know, we're always going to make sure that
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  we get our ER patients done because those turn around times
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  are very critical. And I know that's one thing that
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  has been, you know, just harped on us as far as the department
• 5:53
  on getting these turn around times reduced.
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  So because there's certain metrics and certain things that
• 5:58
  the hospital has to meet when it comes to CMS standards and Joint
• 6:03
  Commission, you know, standards and things like that, OK.
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  And I know there's a reimbursement piece in there
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  too, because those things are kind of looped in as far as
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  those metrics. But the most important thing is
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  the CMS standards and the Joint Commission standards that they
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  uphold us to as far as making sure that we continue our
• 6:24
  accreditation and keep those accreditations right.
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  So turn around times are very big.
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  So I always schedule all my, uh, patients accordingly.
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  Now I always fit in blocks when they call for a stroke, there's
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  a trauma or things like that, or they want to extradite somebody
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  on the list because this patient's very sick or they're
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  very critical. So it just, you know, you make
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  time in that schedule to make sure that you do proper decision
• 6:50
  making. OK.
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  And then of course, if they haven't, for example, called a
• 6:54
  stroke or a trauma. So we'll do like an ER patient
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  and then a patient from the floor or stat from the floor for
• 7:00
  stat ICU. So we fit them in, you know, in
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  between OK, and make sure that we leave ourselves enough room
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  to make sure that we can fit in a stroke, a trauma, whatever the
• 7:10
  case is. So that is typically like as far
• 7:13
  as decision making when it comes to that.
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  So you have to decide, you know, of course we have our priority,
• 7:19
  which is the ER, the strokes, the traumas, if you work at a
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  trauma hospital and then you have, you know, your stat ICU's,
• 7:26
  your stat inpatients, and then you have all the routine stuff.
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  So typically when they want turn around times to be like tip top,
• 7:33
  you know, we've got to work on the ER list.
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  And yes, we still have to fit in those stat ICU patients
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  absolutely, because they're just important as anybody else.
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  But The thing is, is there's also this dynamic when we're
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  trying to decide how to make sure that our workflow in CT is,
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  you know, constructive and it's, you know, it flows good and it
• 7:52
  doesn't overwhelm or overwork all the tags.
• 7:55
  The thing is, is I think sometimes when emergency
• 7:59
  departments and folks that work in the emergency department, and
• 8:02
  I'm going to be very transparent here and very raw about this, is
• 8:05
  that some folks do not understand that the emergency
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  room is not the only department that we have to service.
• 8:13
  We have to service the entire hospital when it comes to CT.
• 8:18
  OK. And I think a lot of people
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  forget that that yes. And you call and say, hey, I
• 8:24
  need to bring this patient over. And I said, OK, well, we have 3
• 8:27
  strokes in the department because at my facility we have 5
• 8:30
  scanners, OK? And we are a comprehensive
• 8:32
  stroke center. So I say we have 3 strokes on
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  the table. There is a really bad trauma in
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  another room and a very critical I'll patient in the department
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  and you're going to tell me over the phone that I need to pull
• 8:45
  one of those patients off of the table.
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  No, that's not happening. If I'm telling you the dynamics
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  of what's happening here, no, that's not happening.
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  That scenario right there actually happened at the
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  hospital I work at where we had three patients that they called
• 9:01
  a stroke on. One of them actually got the
• 9:03
  medication would have, which happened to be the patient I was
• 9:06
  scanning. There was a really bad car wreck
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  trauma in another room with about 20 or 30 people in there
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  making sure that they keep that patient alive to get all those
• 9:16
  scans. OK.
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  And then there was a patient that was critically I'll that
• 9:20
  went into cardiac arrest was a post cardiac arrest in the
• 9:24
  department and the nerve for one of those folks.
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  And I'm going to say ER resident, OK.
• 9:30
  I am very transparent when it comes to this.
• 9:32
  One of the residents to come over and figure out why we can't
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  pull one patient off of the table.
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  Well, when you look down the hall and you see what's
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  happening, that's why. OK.
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  So I think folks seem to not remember that CAT scan services
• 9:46
  the entire hospital. And if it weren't for us, the
• 9:49
  entire hospital will probably shut down, OK?
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  So let's be very mindful because we take decision making on how
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  we're going to expedite these patients very seriously and how
• 10:01
  we execute our work for the day, OK?
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  Now we have real life scanning logic.
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  So this is not like the shows that you see on television
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  because those are not realistic guys, OK?
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  None of that is realistic. None of that is real.
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  Doctors do not do the CT scans, and none of that shit applies to
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  what we actually do. So logic is making sure you
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  center the patient correctly, making sure your orders line up
• 10:28
  with a diagnosis. Because I can't tell you how
• 10:30
  many times I look at that work list and those orders do not
• 10:34
  match what the patient came in for, what the clinical notes
• 10:37
  say, or what the reason for the exam is.
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  And a lot of times we have to question the order and making
• 10:44
  sure, hey, that this lines up with what the patient came in
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  for. Because what that does is it
• 10:50
  turns into insurance issues and then the patient is stuck with
• 10:54
  that entire bill. So we have real life scanning
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  logic where we have to make sure that the diagnosis, the notes,
• 11:00
  and what the patient came in for matches everything.
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  And that we are selecting the correct protocols, making sure
• 11:07
  we are doing the correct amount of contrast, whether it's with
• 11:10
  contrast, without contrast, if we're using rectal contrast, if
• 11:13
  we're doing PO contrast, whatever the case is, those are
• 11:17
  the real logics of making sure that we do the correct exam for
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  those patients. Lastly, patient safety.
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  Patient safety is a very important thing.
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  Making sure that we use our table straps, make sure that we
• 11:29
  immobilize the patient, make sure we educate patients on
• 11:33
  breathing instructions to hold still.
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  The reason why if they move that we would have to repeat, you
• 11:40
  know, their exam and that increases their radiation dose.
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  Making sure we center those patients correctly so that the
• 11:46
  correct amount of dose is used for that exam.
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  OK, Nothing is more just disturbing.
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  To continue to radiate a patient and increase their radiation
• 11:56
  dose, we have to keep them safe. Making sure they don't get
• 11:59
  injured. Making sure that you check those
• 12:02
  Ivs properly as far as contrast, because contrast can be a very
• 12:06
  dangerous thing and infiltrations are not to be
• 12:09
  taken lightly. So make sure you keep your
• 12:11
  patient safe at all times. Answer all their questions.
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  Ask them if they have any questions.
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  Explain things that a 10 year old would understand because
• 12:21
  that's how we have to explain it to the patient.
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  They don't understand all that medical jargon and all the mumbo
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  jumbo that we understand. So you have to explain it to
• 12:30
  them like a 10 year old in the simplest forms because then
• 12:34
  they'll get it. And then you have some patients
• 12:36
  that are very informed and they know exactly what you're talking
• 12:39
  about. And then you could just continue
• 12:41
  and ask them any questions that they may have, You know, ask
• 12:46
  him, you know, if you explained everything correctly and if they
• 12:50
  understand the whole 9 yards. And then any post exam
• 12:54
  instructions that the patient might need.
• 12:55
  So those are all the things that can improve that I feel from my
• 12:59
  perspective, can improve your workflow.
• 13:01
  There might be some others that you use in your department.
• 13:04
  So there's always a way to improve the CT workflow to not
• 13:09
  only get the patients done in a timely fashion and to make sure
• 13:13
  that your department runs efficiently.
• 13:15
  OK, so that is it for today's episode.
• 13:18
  So thank you so much for joining me in this episode.
• 13:21
  Make sure you guys check out the show notes and check out the
• 13:24
  courses, follow on TikTok and subscribe to the YouTube
• 13:29
  channel. And thank you for making the
• 13:30
  show possible. So I will chat with you guys in
• 13:33
  the next episode.