Embark on a journey through the high-tech corridors of medical imaging as we delve into ‘A Day in the Life of a Radiographer (Rad Tech).’
Experience their crucial role, dynamic challenges, and incredible impact on modern healthcare.
Savings Lives One X-ray At A Time
Another long, eventless night shift at my local, small-town 30-bed hospital. I work solo in my imaging department until the morning crew returns to work. Some nights are fairly busy but there are nights that require busy work to stay awake.
On this particular night, I performed one x-ray on an ER patient and one CT Scan on a patient in ICU…that’s it…for seven hours. I had eaten dinner to pass the time and spoke to a few friends within the hospital. Social rounds are part and parcel for making the time go by faster when you are a radiographer in such a small facility.
My thoughts had begun to narrow down the path of how many hours were left in my 12-hour shift. I contemplated how long it would be until I’m back home with my family.
A little after 2 am, the all-too-familiar “Code Blue” rang out over our intercom system. These night shift codes mean two things in my radiology world:
- Will the patient need a radiology exam to solve the mystery of their code?
- How long will I be able to do chest compression this time?
You see, more often than not, I’m one of three men on the night shift in the entire hospital. At 6’3″ and 270 pounds, it’s incumbent upon me to do the chest compressions for CPR.
Our emergency room physicians are usually male, but they are too busy conducting the code and only do chest compressions if necessary. Security guards are always male but never assist in codes. They are present but uninvolved.
Thanks Jim.
Luckily, one male LPN is on duty tonight to share the task. His name is Jim. So I do what I am trained to do. I step up on a step stool and position my clasped hands just above the tip of the sternum.
Whatever sleepiness that had settled in during my uneventful evening was now flushed away with a sea of adrenaline. I begin to throw all of my weight into compressing this man’s rib cage as I repeatedly watch his pulse rate on the monitor. Too slow or too shallow and I’m not circulating enough blood through his body.
I quickly feel the unmistakable snapping of ribs. My instant reaction is to let off the pressure but I know what has to be done. I continue to pound away while the doctor and nurses scramble with heart stimulating drugs and paddle shocks. Minutes seem like hours as I stare into his eyes, hoping to see a glimmer of consciousness. 15 minutes…25 minutes…35 minutes…
My triceps have all but locked up. My pectorals are screaming and one bead of sweat runs down my hot, red face. “I’ve got to get to the gym or this is going to be me someday,” I think to myself. The doctor calls for a pulse. I step back and watch hands palpating for pulses on both sides of the groin and neck. All eyes are on the monitor.
And There It Is.
That weak blip. That electric signal that indicates a pulse is present on this ashen gray elderly gentleman. “Hot damn…we did it!” His heart is chemically dependent to keep running but he’s alive. You may ask why? I don’t and just do my job.
I go wait at the front of the hospital for the family to arrive. They live nearby and are there within minutes of me posting guard out front. I escort them back to the intensive care unit. Our doctor explains everything that has happened and walks them into the patient’s room.
A grief-stricken middle-aged daughter weeps by the bedside. The way she sobs when she says “Daddy” makes my eyes tear up. After a few words, her husband says to her “I have your brother on the phone.” She takes the phone, holds it to Daddy’s ear and says “Talk to him, John. The phone is by his ear.”
I Love You Dad
Over the cell phone’s external speaker we can all hear John’s crackling, sobbing voice as he tells his dad he loves him. “Hang in there Dad…I love you Dad.” And the old man’s mouth began to move.
“He can hear you John! His lips are moving! Keep talking!” the daughter said as she wept. I watched one more time as John’s emotional voice lept from that cell phone and coaxed motion from the old man. A father gets to hear his children one more time as they tell him they love him.
That’s all I need to hear. I turn and walk back to my department, sit in my old, uncomfortable department chair and look at my watch. I get to see MY children in two hours. They might not understand why Daddy works all night but on THIS particular night, I know EXACTLY why.
My Story
I wrote this story in April of 2012. At the time, I was the only tech on the night shift and I covered. X-ray, CT, and Ultrasounds. I talk in other posts about how the night shift makes the most pay. What I don’t talk much about is how slow these night shifts can be in a small, rural hospital. That is when I picked up the passion for blogging. It kept me busy on the dull nights.
That is how this story was captured. I wrote it so that someday my kids would understand what I did at my job. They were little girls at the time and more interested in their Barbie dolls than my boring work stories
Over the years, I have reflected back on this story and it still brings forth the emotion I felt that night as I watched the interactions between those family members. To some degree, that is going to be all of us at some point. We’ll be the daughter or son grieving… or eventually the father dying on the table.
Will you have regrets? Will you be comforted knowing you have done your best? My job, and hopefully this blog, will help me share what a career in radiology has done for me and my family…. and also the other families I have touched over the years. If you have any questions about how to become a radiographer, feel free to drop me an email.
Additional Information:
If you are curious about the career of radiography, I have written some articles on various topics:
- How much does x-ray pay,
- 7 dangers of being a rad tech,
- Different ways to pay for radiography school,
- How to get accepted into a rad tech program,
- Can you work full-time while going to rad tech school and
- 5 reasons I chose a career in radiology.
I hope you find this helpful. You are welcome to email me with any questions. Thanks for stopping by TheRadiologicTechnologist.com.
Ron – [email protected]