X-ray Eyes, Hands, Shoulders...

(Radiologist): "I feel like hell. My shoulders and wrists are killing me..."

I've been a scut-dog. I was one of the junior staff of a hospital radiology department (for a short time) whose sole job was to serve the senior physicians with whatever they needed. And in radiology, that meant chasing films, finding films, locating jackets, checking in and checking out films and at the most critical time...find a lost film, STAT!!

Then it was necessary to put the film on a large, floor to ceiling box with rollers to "view" the film. It could take minutes, hours sometimes to have a film read and reported to the person ordering the x-ray test. It felt like so, so much work. And it was.

Zipppppppppppppppp...

Fast forward to today. I sit in a dark room, reading radiographs with a senior at lightening speed. And we sit for hours. No chasing films, no looking for jackets, no checking or checking out....those days are long gone. No more long term x-ray storage, processing, chemicals or accounting. We read hundreds of images today that would have taken weeks before. The efficiency of radiographic interpretation and the technology is one of the greatest revolutions in my long medical career. Picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) have taken over imaging. It's all about the computer.

 

Now, a radiologist can generate so much work, they can barely keep up with the demand. Computer overuse syndromes are so common among radiologists that some wonder about the value of the average $384,421 per year salary they can receive in exchange for the lifetime of pain in the shoulders, elbows, wrists and hands. The pace is fantastic and it's truly amazing to watch a modern radiologist "whir" through the day.

I walked away today, as other days, with a total "oh wow" experience and an ah ha moment that I could never sit in a dark room, for hours and hours on end, with little human contact, reading radiographs with little insightful information about a patients history, physical exam or differential diagnosis. And a little carpal tunnel to boot.

(Radiologist): "I feel like hell. My shoulders and wrists are killing me...but for $8,000 a week, I'll figure out a way to make this work"