Developing X-rays from the bat cave

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Amber Ashcraft
  • 2nd Bomb Wing Public Affairs
BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. --  Sitting in a small white room with no windows on a cold examining table, metal instruments everywhere, is a nervous male patient, uncomfortably dressed in a too-small floral fabric gown.

A young doctor comes into the room, holds up a black and white image excitedly in front of the patient and says, "Bad news is your x-ray showed a broken rib. Good news is we fixed it with Photoshop."

Long before the invention of touch screen digital cameras or even the advent of the digital computer for that matter, photographic glass plates were used to produce most radiographic images. Now, more than a century after one of the first x-ray images was taken in 1895, x-rays are produced within milliseconds and can be electronically stored.

"An x-ray is universally used by doctors to help determine the cause of an individual's ailment," said Senior Airman Sean McCarty, 2nd Medical Support Squadron diagnostic imaging technologist. "It's not just a picture to hang on the wall. The x-ray allows the doctor to get a real-time view of what's going on inside the patient which leads to properly treating or medicating the patient."

Producing an average of 30 x-rays a day, the radiology technicians perform an essential duty for Barksdale's active-duty Airmen, retirees, reservists and their dependents and the quality of their health care.

"We've definitely come a long way with the forms of medical applications like computed tomography (CT) scans, which take three-dimensional images of patients," said Senior Airman Brandon Bolen, 2nd MDSS diagnostic imaging technologist.

According to Bolen, without the x-ray a radiologist technician took, surgeons wouldn't be able to precisely perform operations, and orthopedic doctors wouldn't be able to reduce fractures and check on a bones healing process.

"We provide imaging to help specifically diagnose broken bones, cardiopulmonary/respiratory problems and help doctors see problems in a patient's alimentary system," he said.

Common examples of x-rays performed include the chest, which can be used to identify pneumonia and lung cancer and the abdominal x-ray, which can detect intestinal obstructions. X-rays may also be used to detect gallstones or kidney stones.

"The technicalities and use of x-rays are just the start of what we need to be good at," said McCarty. "We also need to be good at interacting with the patients. A typical x-ray room is like a cave. You have this patient wearing a gown in a dark room with some guy they don't know and silence is awkward. Talking with the patients and making them feel at ease is one of the best parts of my job. We're here to help them get better, not make them feel like a test rat hiding in the corner of the cave."

The training for these technicians is a two-phase program. The Air Force Diagnostic Imaging program, or Phase 1, is a 14-week apprentice course. Phase II is 38-weeks of clinical education.

"In great detail, we learned about the electronic circuitry, anatomy of bones, cardiopulmonary system, digestive track, reproductive organs, the brain and circulatory system," said McCarty. "We performed CTs and digital radiology and fluoroscopy, which is live video of the inside of the body."

The technicians are well-versed in their areas of expertise, hence the doctors heeding their advice.

"I can easily call our radiology department here and give them the specifics of a patients ailments and what I'm trying to accomplish," said Capt. J Chapman, 2nd Medical Group Director of Family Health. "I ask what they recommend instead of blindly ordering imagery, and they let me know whether it's even necessary to x-ray or if there's another procedure we can simply perform."

Being readily available to perform x-rays, phone consultations with doctors and even working late are just a few of the tasks technicians take on.

"I can call them at 4:25 p.m. and ask for a CT scan," said Chapman. "Instead of saying, 'we're closed', they work a bit later to help out with the patients. If they weren't willing to do that, we'd have to send reluctant patients to urgent care to get their x-rays. Our radiology technicians have never let me down, they're absolutely indispensable. Not many people know the lengths our medical Airmen will go for them, it goes without a 'thank you' but they're still willing to go the extra mile."

Despite their regular duties and going the extra mile, the technicians find a little humor in their job.

"We work so often in that cave of a room, that when someone turns the lights on, we're kind of like bats. We scatter immediately and shield our faces," said McCarty with a laugh.

In the end, without the Air Force's unique diagnostic imaging technologist's, the medical and digital worlds would be very different.

After all, when you're fixed up by the doctor and sent home, you could use that x-ray as your new profile picture on Facebook, without the Photoshop edits of course.