Amusing reads, thanks for putting up pateint thoughts on CT scanning!

I am a young neuroradiologist who loves radiology – but hates the doctor culture !

Maybe it’s because my dad still works in a pizza shop at the age of 74 that i can feel like a
normal human being, and not like a robot surgeon (like my wife ;-))

Anyhoo, the culture of manufacturing CT and MRI machines and reading the scans is a freaky world to be sure. We can, and i do a lot of, 3D reconstruction of data for our non-radiology doctors to put it all together in a Gray’s anatomy/ Frank Netter anatomy way. In fact, the future should hold portable bedside scanners that the average doc will/should use, and heck, why not a holographic projection of 3d data, ala star trek.

you engineers out there, start working on it, cause the money is in gadgets, not the art of medicine. don’t get me started on how corporate culture has nearly effaced the human side of taking care of patients.

i do head and neck radiology as a speciality [taking a break from rewriting a chapter by typing this now] and my best days are when i talk to patients a little [biopsies, myelograms, etc] because they need a smiling face put “on the machine….”

enough ranting – just know that radiologists in general DO hide scan images from patients – it is pretty rare for us to show the patient their scan or invite them behind the scan console for one simple reason.

WE HAVE TOO MANY SCANS TO READ!!! i crank 35 scans/day, and in private practice i cranked out 50. you can’t talk to more than 1-2 patients/day and get throught the pile and see your family otherwise. and, you’re right, it is a powerplay to keep patients out of the loop…but you can always ask the nice tech for a cd of your scan! they should give it to you; lie tell them your doc wants it!

BTW – for the flu, lots of vitamin C and chicken soup. Linus pauling took 18grams/day, and for any virus, fringe (read orthomolecular) docs advise 1-2 grams every 2 hours…really. Haven’t tried it yet myself though.

Cheers!