Friday, April 30, 2010

Live Essay

Radiology Technician
I have been in the medical field for over ten years now. It has been a very enriching field to be in. However I felt in the last couple of years that I needed a change. I decided to go back to school and become a radiology technician. When I walked into the medical department at the Yavapai collage I received a huge wake up call. Schooling was just the tip of the iceberg as most people would say. Radiology Is a great career, and like any job it is what you make of it. The average pay starting in radiology is 52,210 dollars a year (Labor)
One of the first thing Yavapai collage did was to give me some tests to see if I could go straight into the radiology school. In my instance I had to take some other classes before I could start. The school requires you to have a certain level of math, english, and biology before you can start in the radiology part of the schooling. I was in for a big surprise. The list they gave me seemed like a mile long it had all my pre-requisites listed and all my courses for the radiology part. (College) I did not allow this list to deter me from my main goal of becoming a radiology technician. For me is was easy I have saved a life before and know the feeling that comes from it. That is why I decided to stay in the medical field. If I can go into another field and still get that same feeling great. I feel that If you want to become a radiology technician you had better be ready for long nights of studying and writing.
Before I started this off I wanted to know if this would be the right field for me to go into. I wanted to know what I would expect as a radiology technician. I talk to a good friend of mine who had been in the radiology field for over 20 years now, and asked her some question about radiology. (Hebert) She gave me a lot to think about. One of my question I asked her Was kind of bland I thought, however the answer she gave me really surprised me and pushed me even closer to wanting to become a radiology technician. She told me that she still felt like a care giver do to the people she works on in the field.

So here I am in my first year of schooling trying to fulfill a dream that I have to become a radiology technician. I have so far completed two of the six required courses before you can start into the radiology program. I figure I have about eighteen more months of schooling before I can get into the program. When you have done all your prerequisites then you have to apply for the program at the medical department. I have been told that the program is not easy to get into. I will not allow that to stop me I will get into the program and complete this goal I have. The radiology program is going to be very demanding not only for me at school but also at home. There will be long hours at home studying for this test and that test. My family is behind me all the way on this. That is a huge relief you need someone behind you for moral support when you go back to school at any age.
Now I did a lot of research on the internet looking at different school and such for radiology. (schools) Most would allow me to go right into the main training part in what they called a fast track program of how to be a radiology technician. What the schools didn't tell you was all you got was a certificate saying you knew how to run a X-Ray machine. The schools didn't give you the degree I was looking for. They all lacked the degree I would receive from a college. The schools did allow me to enter a fast track system and be state certified, however I did some research and found that most places that do radiology like their employees to have a degree from a college. So I decided to go to the college instead of the fast track programs out there.
I did some research on what types of radiology technician are out there. You can specialize in a wide area of machines that take pictures of the inside of your body. There is even X-Ray machine that you can use in the industrial area. They use X-Rays for looking and rocks and minerals. They even use a X-Ray machine to see underground before they blast for mining to see if what they are looking for is there. I am going for the medical part of radiology. I want to help people get well and stay healthy. That has been my goal for over ten years now.

The Invention of the X-Ray machine was all done by accident on November, 8th 1895 by Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen (Video) What he started open up a whole new world in the medical and industrial field. The world now has machines that can take scans of more than just bones and rocks. We have Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI machines) that take a different kind of picture of the body. Instead of looking for a broken bone these machines are used to look at soft tissue. Dr's that order a MRI are looking to see if their patient has a rip, tear, or separated muscle. Then there is a ultra sound machine that Dr's use to look at a person who is pregnant to see how the new baby is doing. these are just to name a few and what they do.

Then you have the type of X-ray machines that look into our earth. These type of X-Ray machines run a lot like the ones in hospitals but on a much grander scale. They are made to go thru several hundred feet of rock and dirt to see what lies beneath them. They even use them in the ocean to look for sunken ships or cracks in the earth's crust.
So you can see since the invention of the X-Ray machine since and the medical field have come a long ways with the help of the X-Ray machine. With science never ending hope to find new things I am sure there is a new machine just waiting to be made and used for our benefit.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

How a X-Ray is done



This is a video of how a X-Ray is made. This video show step by step how a person gets a X-Ray

the history of radiology



Here is the inventor of the first x-ray machine. I will be using some of this information in my report. He invented the x-ray by total accident.

Friday, April 9, 2010

Interview with X-Ray Tech

I had the great pleasure of being able to interview one of my friends Helen Hebert who is a X-Ray tech for a Dr's office down in Mesa Arizona. She has been a X-Ray technician for over 20 years. I did the Interview with her on April 9, 2010 at about 8 pm over the phone. She was nice enough to do the interview on such short notice. I learned a lot from her. I am now confident that I am choosing the right field to go into. I have been a C.N.A. for ten years now, and when she called herself a caregiver. That is what made my mind up right there that I was going into the right field. This interview will be a big part of my paper. It will show others what it is like being a X-Ray technician before they take any classes to become one.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Annotated Bibliography

Kristina L willis
English 101
L. Darrow
Annotated Bibliography

This sorce is mainley used to show what is required to become a Radiologic technician. I will be using this site to list the formal training needed to become a Radiologic Technician. Also what is included in getting your Licensure.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-11 Edition, Radiologic Technologists and Technicians, on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos105.htm (visited April 07, 2010).

Researchers have long known that phase-contrast X-ray imaging can yield stunning pictures of soft tissue. Currently, however, the technique requires X rays from a synchrotron, a particle accelerator measuring 300 meters or more in diameter. But Franz Pfeiffer of the Paul Scherrer Institute in Villigen, Switzerland and his team reports an advance that it says will enable radiologists to perform phase-contrast imaging using conventional hospital X-ray machines
This cite will be used to show what some of the differant types of machines are used in being a Radiology Technician. I will use only a small portion of this cite, however it will still show a lot of infomaNaila Moreira. "X Ray Excels. " Science News 20 Aug. 2005: Education Module, ProQuest. Web. 7 Apr. 2010. tion.

Imaging procedures and equipment purchases are both on the wane as payers and policy-makers take aim at the overutilization of the high-cost technology. As a result, some imaging organizations are trying to escape the market. Acquisitions are taking place at an especially rapid pace, particularly among smaller and regional firms. Radiologists are also retrenching and looking at ways to demonstrate how their specialty can improve the cost-effectiveness of diagnosing and treating disease. Radiologists may come to function as secondary gatekeeper physicians. To that end, some radiologists are creating practice guidelines and appropriateness criteria, protocols that will aid primary care physicians in ordering imaging studies in the most cost-effective order. Along with other trends reshaping the profession, managed care penetration and capitation will eliminate the last vestiges of radiologists' traditional "lone wolf" status and further compel them to share resources and lower utilization.
Taylor, Kathryn S. "Image enhancer. " Hospitals & Health Networks 68.21 (1994): 36-40. Research Library Core, ProQuest. Web. 8 Apr. 2010.
I will be useing this cite for the information of the way radiology is heading in the future.

Scientists are developing a new imaging method that could dramatically improve mammography and other medical and materials imaging. The new method uses a single-energy X-ray source
"New x-ray technique may aid mammography. " USA Today 1 Oct. 1998: Research Library Core, ProQuest. Web. 8 Apr. 2010.
This cite will show what a Common Xray can do in saving a human life. In this case a female that has breast cancer. She took a mammography and showed the cancer.

Dave's blog

Here is a blog that i have been reading and following. the gentalman that this blog belong too likes sharing what he does with others in his field as you can tell if you go to his blog. His name is dave weober here is his link or you can hit the link at the top of the page.
http://ctdave95.blogspot.com

WIKI

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiology
Here is the link for the WIKI on radiology you can also go to the top of my blog and find it there too