Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Now I'm Scared Again

OK, so now I'm scared again to be a sonographer. The other day, we learned about Thoracentesis. The procedure itself isn't what scares me - it's a draining of fluid from the chest (with a needle and tube). What scares me is that MY job is to scan the patient's back, and mark their back with an "X." This "X" is what the radiologist uses to stick the needle into. If you get the spot wrong, the doc could stick the needle into the lung on accident, and the patient has a pneumothorax (collapsed lung). Greeeeaaaaaat......Last night, I looked up Thoracentesis on YouTube, just to feel better about this. There was an entire educational video on the whole procedure! I guess you can find anything on YouTube!

But, I'm still scared.

2 comments:

Elle J said...

With your diligence in studying and research, and your smarts, I am sure you will be just fine on placing that X. I am sure they will check the first one you make on your first patient. :) You'll be fine.

Shannon said...

Wow. You're job is really gonna be cool!! You'll do great, I know it!

How's the thyroid?

So glad your trip to Spokane was so fun.

Praying for all of it.

XO