scatological

Defecogram: A fluoroscopy procedure in which the patient empty their bowels while seated.

The point of the discussion was to emphasize communication skills. The instructor stated that often the doc does not inform the patient what to expect. So it falls on the technologist to explain. This works because there is very little prep. They're usually done on women, because of suspected prolapse of the rectum.

Chuckles began. The instructor told us, “Yeah, there's not a lot of pamphlets on it.”

“How does the technologist induce the bowel movement?”

“It's a mixture of instant mashed potatoes and barium,” we were told. “The way we put it in the patient is with a caulking gun.”

Laughter erupted.

“So you have to hide the gun. But when you start they look down and ask, “Is that a caulking gun?”

One of the students works in construction. He said, “I'm going to have to tell the guys about this!”

“It's a fairly common exam is this town,” we were told.