My First Comp

What a week! I've had fun just doing chest radiographs. I should say that I comped the chest PA and Lateral. My first comp ever, on the third week of September 2006. I love the sound of that.

I think I must have done about twenty chests this week. A lot of them are TB screens. I have to smile here because the techs like to hand the chest exams to me to make their load lighter. I'm okay with that, but I have other exams to comp as well.

As for the didactic learning, we covered a broad spectrum of topics. From the model of an atom, to the anatomy and positioning of the elbow and forearm, to computed radiography. This morning I awoke with a smile. I'm in love with this experience.

Overall, the hospital experience is growing on me. I feel like I'm at my third home. Seriously, I know it will pass, along with my infatuation with the classroom, but I love the hospital at which I'm fulfilling my clinical. My second home is my workplace in retail.

Nearly all the techs are women, which is great because I primary prefer to work with women. I like their temperament generally.

These techs in particular are personality plus types. One has been very helpful. I'll call her Mary. She treats me like an equal with respect and interest to my involvement in the process of acquiring the image. She understood when I explained that I am a kinesthetic learner, that I learn best by doing.

Two of the others are from eastern an European countries and speak in their lovely, lilting language to each other. One of them has a fantastic sense of the absurd; she's fun to be around. She clutched her ears during a particularly lively exam with a pediatric. The child had a healthy pair of lungs. The child was expressing her extreme displeasure at the indignity of being held down for each radiograph of a bone study.

I'm finding it difficult to submerge the impulse to say, “I know,” when a tech says something to me. I recognize I should just nod and say, “okay.” I'm here to learn first, and secondarily to demonstrate knowledge with comps. Just don't step on the toes of techs. The last thing I want is have tech say to me, “Just listen, Okay?”

Finally, I love the patients. Even the ones who are so out of it that all they can do is grunt when I ask them a question. It's a tremendous rush to produce a radiograph of diagnostic quality. I know I am adding to the total contribution in a positive way to the patient's recovery.

Thanks for reading and do add comments.