> Remember that the radiologists now have a duty to inform the DOH of any
> radiation
> exposure which they believe was inappropriate - ours will report films
> requested without
> good clinical reason - for example simple low back pain with PID. I only spend
> a couple of
> minutes too; I simply say that an X-ray will not affect how I treat the
> patient and exposes
> then to unnecessary radiation. If they insist, I then write on the form that
> it is at the
> patient's request and the radiographer refuses to do it because of the
> inappropriate
> exposure.
I'm working in a GP-run ER in far-north Saskatchewan for a few monrths and
the level of irradiation going on is incredible (although in their defence
they do have a TB problem).
Given the choice, I tend to review rather than xray (not just because of the
fee for service structure here!) but here I'm getting lateral chests as
standard and about 10 views of everything. They do standard nasal bones,
rib views etc in their chase of the fractures and the RCMP officers request
we do xrays on assault victims to increase their chances of a conviction.
Having said that the people doing the xrays (I'm still unsure what their
training is, but the main one used to be the ambulance driver!) have the
children eating out of their hands, so the quality of paed films is good.
Robbie Coull
email: [log in to unmask] website: http://www.coull.net
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