Wednesday, June 30, 2010

TRI-5, Wk8, Day 302, Wednesday

Well, in 12 hours I'll be back at school and in the midst of my Dx Imag. exam. Dr. Kuhn, our teacher has told us that up to 1/3 of classes have failed this first exam. It's completely ironic that Div IV should be the class I have most reason to be concerned about.
For Rad Positioning we signed up for our rooms yesterday. My partner and I choose ...I think it was room C. or maybe B ...I don't quite remember but I would like to have been tested by either Dr. Kuhn or Dr. Guebert, they are the best at radiology and both seem like reasonable & fair men. My partner was a little concerned that they might be too difficult. However, Dr. Kuhn ran me through a timed x-ray set up and I was able to finish well within 5 minutes and Dr. Kuhn said I did a decent job. I did a mock chest x-ray which requires a slightly different type of film and remembered that fact and was able to set up the equipment with a 0.06 second x-ray time which is well below the tenth of a second which is recommended.

I ran a little late getting to school this morning and missed Cardio which, is a bit ironic because one of the things which caused me to be late was finding some worksheets specifically for that class. I rather regret not making it to that class because it is quite interesting. I was even thinking about it this morning after my shower. Thoughts in regard to residual volume (RV) in the lungs. Dr. Christy was claiming that the RV didn't represent any actual amount of air which got me thinking. If the lungs were void of air then there would be two possibilities. One, that the tubes in the lungs would be a vacuum or two, all the tubes in the lungs would be collapsed and, since neither of these options seem even remotely viable, I would have to conclude that there is actual air left in the lungs even after complete exhalation. I still need to talk with him about this.
I did complete my Lab Dx assignment last night or, rather, about 1 or 2 a.m. this morning. I sometimes think one of the main functions of our teacher in that class is to make sure we're not stupid. There are ways of thinking about lab test or pathology (another class he taught) that might seem intuitively correct but, that may not be the case. One of the questions in our assignment was counterintuitive to me. He asked why chiropractors should NOT utilize lab test. I found this odd because in class he would seem to be a proponent of all doctors testing their patients when appropriate. It did occur to me that if his belief was to have chiropractors test their patients with lab test then perhaps he asked "why not" in order to help bolster his own arguments towards chiro's performing lab test.

Friday is our Basic III midterm. Basic is rather intriguing. I know from experience that both my brother and his fiance have employed basic technique in their practice and I also know Troy has performed Lumbar pressures in patients with acute back pain. Oddly enough, when I came in there a few years ago one of my brother's associates was treating me and said he didnt' want to touch me because I was in such acute pain. I'm guessing he forgot what he was taught in Dr. Montgomery's class regarding basic. ..I'm thinking of another associate, I think her name was Michelle and she did take the time to show me how I should be getting out of bed or into and out of a car. These are things Dr. Montgomery showed us just last week.

In biomechanics we focused on the intervetebral disc which provide cushioning between our vertebrae.

There's so much work to do with all these classes. While getting good grades or grades good enough to move on to the next trimester is an obvious objective there is also a great desire to learn enough to be an effective and competent physician. I have been pondering the possibilities of becoming a mixed tri, meaning I would take two trimesters to complete tri-6 then go back to full time as a tri-7 after that. Some people do that by choice and some by default because of an insufficient grade. I need to get no less than 85% in all of my remaining points available in Diversified which, can be kind of a tall order. The written final in that class has a reputation for being amazingly difficult which means I would have to ace all the remaining practicals. We'll see what happens.

Physical Diagnosis was pretty fun today. We did a little more looking in the ears today and the teacher had an otoscope with a camera attached to it that hooks up to a computer. Maybe next week I'll have her take a pic of the inside of my ear and I can post it on my blog. It was noticed that my right ear has what looks like two perforations as if I may have had tubes in my ears at one time. I'm not sure and will have to give my parents a jingle to find out.

Today's pic is of the Welch Allyn digital otoscope like the one used in class. It was introduced by Welch Allyn February 6, 2008.

TRI-5, Wk8, Day 301 - Tuesday

We've got an extremely important dx imaging test coming up this Thursday and, I'm not sure why but we got hit with an assignment in Lab Dx which is due the morning of our dx imag exam. The assignment is in lieu of a couple classes which we're cancelled but, I think I would have rather had the classes. The assignment is consuming more time than if we'd have had the classes in the first place.
I got stuck on Monday when I first started working on it and concluded that maybe I wasn't thinking straight because I was tired but, after looking at it again tonight, I'm still a bit stuck. Apparently, from a couple comments I've gotten on Facebook I'm not alone. I think it's a little after midnight on Wednesday morning and I've already gotten some sleep in for the night and really need to make good use of the time I have before class tomorrow morning.

Our Cardiopulmonary Dx class has been pretty interesting in spite of a bias I have towards the heart. I'm not sure why but I don't have some of the terms firmly planted in my head.
Let's see ...
decreased compliance means increased recoil means restrictive dz
decreased recoil means increased compliance means obstructive dz

and, apparently, there are only three kinds of obstructive dz's, asthma, emphasema & bronchitis.

Maybe it's like how some names are easier to remember than others. Well, I need to crack open my Yochum & Rowe's radiology textbook and get to work ....oh, and finish that lab dx assignment. It looks like all my studying for Basic III will be done on Thursday night.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

TRI-5, Wk7&8, Days 299 & 300, Fri & Mon

Wow, was that really day 300 on Monday? Holy Cow. We've got our Dx Imag midterm this Thursday and Basic III midterm on Friday. I also shadow interns again this Friday. We have to dress up a bit when working in the clinic so I bought a few new shirts, ties & pair of pants last week before my first stint in the Health Center.

Next week, on Wednesday (my birthday!) we have our Radiologic Positioning exam which is scheduled from noon to 4 p.m. or however long it takes for everyone to finish.

I guess this is a pretty tough semester. Unlike earlier in the semester when I asked people what they thought, I'm now getting responses like "it's the toughest semester yet" when before some people thought it was the easiest. Of course, the people that thought it was easy hadn't done any of the reading yet and we hadn't had any midterms either.

For the most part, I've been pushing myself harder than the semester has been pushing me which means I've generally done everything I'm supposed to in order to get through the semester. Div IV could still hold me up.

I noticed in Laboratory Diagnosis (lab dx) today that I'm starting to develop a bit of a theory towards disease (dz) and our current means of classifying various dz's. I can't quite fully articulate the paradigm but, it seems like for most dz's it's like we have a bunch of dial meters with little needles and when ever a certain combination of those needles go into the red zone then we may conclude we have a specific dz such as Grave's dz or diabetes. The little meters I'm referring to would be the various test we can perform on patients (pts).

Some dz's may be more conclusive with a single evaluation such as may be the case with Ewings sarcoma or Paget's dz via x-ray but, others require a more specific combination of lab results.

Part of this new way of thinking may have gotten an extra kick from our Physical Dx class. We've been exposed to various dz over and over again, dz such as Cushings, Addisons, Cretinism and Myxedema again and again but, each time we're seeing the dz from a slightly different vantage point. Today in Phys dx we were specifically studying the faces or facies associated with different dz's. Quite literally, picture after picture of people with various dz's and what their face looks like with each dz.

Overall, it is a bit fascinating. Maybe from all the commuting I do I'm used to seeing my speedometer and tachometer which is where I'm getting the guage idea from or perhaps from older types of computers and equipment which uses such little dials to monitor things.

I suppose if a doctor could see an ongoing set of data for a pt in terms of laboratory test then we could see the progression from a healthy to dz state ...the thought here is with intervention but another type of thinking is more along the lines of "pre-diseases" or when certain changes in the body manifest themselves with partial symptoms of what may become tagged as a specific dz.

OK ....I'm going off on tangents now and Googling various dz's. Need to get back to bed ...just enough time to get an extra hour of sleep before I have to get up for school. :)


Thursday, June 24, 2010

TRI-5, Wk7, Day 298, Thur - Brachial Plexus

I sure am getting a lot of mileage out of my YouTube brachial plexus video. It's been watched over 23,000 times now, used in PT classes as well as at the New York College of Chiropractic for three trimesters and now I'm corresponding with an anesthesiologist in a hospital located in Munich, Bavaria who wants to use a clip from the video in a lecture she's giving to her medical colleagues in about three weeks. I sure would like to attend that lecture! :)

As is, I'd like to re-cut the clip they're interested in this weekend. I wonder if it's any coincidence that I was watching a YouTube clip of 99 Red Balloons by Nena earlier in the evening. (Nena is from Germany)

It's almost 1:30 a.m. and I'm having an amazingly difficult time getting to sleep... I might have to push my alarm from 4:30 to 5 a.m.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

TRI-5, Wk7, Day 296 & 297, Tue & Wed

Apparently, I know a thing or two about drugs according to my score of 100.33% on Monday's Toxicology (aka pharmacology) Exam. Amazingly enough, my diversified score is at the other end of the spectrum. I can't say I agree with all the rationale behind the score I got on my first practical but, we must play nice and do the best we can to still get through the class. I'm not sure how likely that is but, I'll do what I can.

All my other classes are solid but, we still have to get through midterms for Dx Imaging and Rad Positioning. There's an HCP exam this Friday but I haven't found anyone who really knows what to expect on that exam or what it's about. Guess I'll find out. Our Basic Midterm is Friday, July 2nd with Dx Imag next Thursday and Rad Positioning on my birthday -- Wednesday, July 7th. :)

Monday, June 21, 2010

TRI-5, Wk6&7, Days 294 & 295, Fri & Mon

Just got done watching Dirty Dancing. The movie takes place in the Summer of '63, before Kennedy was shot, the Beetles ...and three years before I was born. The movie was released August 21st, 1987 and I remember the first time seeing it on television at my Grandma's house and how my Dad's sister, Pat, was enamored with Patrick Swayze and commenting how he was "all man!"

One of the first shows I remember watching at my Grandma's with the entire family present was about 13 years earlier with the first airing of The Six Million Dollar Man which first aired January 18th, 1974. If memory serves, it was an episode where he pulled out a fence post, complete with concrete mortar and threw it like a javelin.

I think the best movie of the 70s, in my opinion, came a few years later in 1977 with Star Wars. I'm not sure how many people were aware at that time of it being Episode IV, A New Hope ...I certainly wasn't.



My second favorite movie of that decade is Grease. :)

Thursday, June 17, 2010

TRI-5, Wk6, Days 292 & 293 - Wed & Thur

Just finished up our Lab Dx exam. Once again, simply reading the assigned material and attending every class probably wasn't enough to ace that exam. I don't think it was all that hard but, I need to know more detail about more aspects of the subject matter. We'll see how it goes.

I learned I have a three hour break now since the next two hours are devoted to more Diversified testing and I already did that on Tuesday. One hour of cardio dx and a blood draw then I'll be done w/ the day.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

TRI-5, Wk6, Days 290 & 291 - Mon & Tue

Well, I've never put so much time and effort into getting a couple C's like I got today and yesterday. These test kind of went beyond basic knowledge as taught in class. In Cardio, for example, it wasn't just enough to know what all the wiggles on an EKG readout meant but we had questions such as, "Consider a pt on an antidepressant...." ....then I'm wondering if this is an SSRI type anti-depressant or perhaps an amphetamine - ..probably SSRI but, geez... not exactly something we covered a great deal in class.

I'm thinking the extra credit we were given on this test should help out quite a bit. We had 10 different EKG strips and I felt pretty good about my answers. I can spot a 4:3 2nd degree AV Wenkebach heart block from a mile away - and I did on the extra credit (teacher confirmed it when I handed it in) There were only 35 questions on the cardio dx exam but the teacher still gave us a full two hours to work on it.

It seems like the things we are taught in class we are simply expected to know, it's not so much what we're tested over but rather a baseline of knowledge upon which other questions may be asked.

I got a slightly higher grade in Phys Dx. That test was much more detailed than I was expecting but, now I know and believe I'll do better on the next test.

I think I'm getting used to the longer days - 15 hours yesterday and 13 hours today ...just the way it's probably going to be for my remaining couple years. I've heard in the last few trimesters we don't have a break between semesters since we'll be working clinic duty.

oh well - we've got a Lab Dx exam on Thursday so, I've got to finish learning and memorizing all that baseline knowledge then start digging into the details behind a couple dozen diagnostic test. Piece of cake! :)

Today's picture is of a capillary tube after it's been spun in a centrifuge. We get to test our blood this Thursday after our blood draw for hematocrit levels and the pic of the tube is what ours tubes should look like.

just thinking ...from our original class size projections, Phys Dx was the 2nd most failed class last trimester so, at least I'm ahead of that curve. Well, better get to memorizing a few dozen lab values before i go to bed tonight.

Friday, June 11, 2010

TRI-5, Wk5, Day 289 - Wednesday, June 9th

I've been taking it easy for the past couple days ...well, I guess there's only been one day away from school besides today (Friday) but it seems like a while. I took a lot of naps yesterday (thur) which I'm sure didn't hurt me any. Got a little more energy today and just got back from a local track to get in some jogging.

I had thoughts of running out to the Logan homecoming today for a Diff Dx lecture but the overcast skies made the thought of driving unappealing (and the thought of jogging more appealing)

I have four test next week and four the following week. In many classes we only have two exams, a midterm and a final. So, if I get nice grades on my midterms then I'll be feeling pretty good about things for the rest of the semester and if I get poor grades then I'll be significantly more stressed.

I was just playing Volume 2 of my Diversified Adjusting DVD and decided to list the moves on the first part of the disc below. I'll have to know the last 17 adjusting moves for my practical next Tuesday.

Today we have a nice picture of the upper cervicals - only two vertebra, C1 (aka the Atlas) and C2 (aka the Axis). 17 moves just for those two little bones and that's just from one adjusting technique (Diversified).

Thoracic Counter Rotations
12. Double Transverse/Pisiform
13. Couble Pollicus (Counter rotation)

Retrolisthesis / Extension Malposition
14. Double Pollicus (Retrolisthesis)
15. Knife Edge

Flexion Malposition Bilateral Posterior Disc
16. Double Pollicus (Disc Protrusion)

Lateral Flexion Malposition - Typical
17. Thumb-Pisiform (T4 & Lower)
18. Policus Pisiform (T3 & Lower)

Lateral Flexion Malposition - Atypical
19. Thumb-Pisiform (T4 & Lower)
20. Pollicus-Pisiform
21. Pisiform-Pollicus
22. Pisiform-Traction

Thoracis Rib Adjusting
23. Pisiform Contact
24. Pollicus Contact

Lower Cervicals C3-C7
Rotational Malposition - Prone
01. Lateral Index - Side of Laterality
02. Flat Thumb - Side of Laterality
03. Lateral index - Opp. Side of Laterality
04. Flat Thumb - Opp. Side of Laterality
05. Lateral Index - Head of Table
06. Flat Thumb - Head of Table

Luschka Trauma / Lateral Flexion Malposition
7a. Head of Table
7b. Side Opposite of Involvement
7c. Side of Involvement

Retrolisthesis / Foraminal Compression
08. Bimannual Recoil
09. Thumb Index
10. Knife Edge

Lower Cervical Adjusting - Supine
11. Rotational Malposition - Lateral Index
12. Luschka Trauma - Lateral Index

Lower Cervical Adjusting - Seated
13. Rotational Malposition - Chiro. Index
14. Luschka Trauma - Chiro Index

Upper Cervicals
Seated Adjusting
01. Posterior Occiput
02. Anterior Occiput
03. Inferior Occiput
04. Posterior Atlas
05. Atlas/ Axis - Counter Rotation (for C2)
06. Atlas/ Axis

Supine Adjusting
07. Posterior Occiput
08. Inferior Occiput
09. Posterior Atlas
10. Anterior Atlas
a. Side of Anteriority Up
b. Side of Anteriority Down
11. Atlas Axis Counter Rotation (for C2)
12. Atlas Axis Counter Rotation (for C1)

Prone Adjusting
13. Inferior Occiput
14. Anterior Occiput
15. Posterior Atlas
16. Atlas Axis Counter Rotation

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

For Roxanne

Hi Roxanne,

I could probably help with the insight if we could communicate more directly. I have to approve all comments before they are published so, if you'd like to leave your email address as a comment, then I'll can get your address then reject the comment so it is not published and privacy could be maintained.

I'm not sure why everyone is dumbfounded because I know we discussed a situation similar to yours in our Cardio Dx class. That is, a block presenting itself upon or after exertion. I've forwarded your comments to the doctor who teaches our Cardio class plus, that's my first class tomorrow morning so I'll be sure to find out more information then.

When you mentioned lightheadedness the word syncope came to mind which has to do with fainting, this is also sometimes referred to as a "Stokes-Adams" episode. While there can be many reasons for a person to experience Stokes-Adams episodes, the most common cause is Sick Sinus Syndrome which has a couple of aka's such as Sinus Arrest or SA Block and P-pulmonale may also be used. When we talk about P-pulmonale we're essentially talking about the right side of your heart which is the pump that sends blood to your lungs. A situation such as COPD or emphysema are the most common conditions associated with P-pulmonale.

Of course, your one cardiologist already mentioned hyper-vagal tone (aka vagotonia, aka a type of parasympatheticotonia) You might want to notice that I made the letter "o" bold faced in parasypatheticotonia, because if you decide to Google that word, there is another very similar word but instead of that letter "o" there is a letter "a" in it's place. When the word is used with an "o" it represents an increase, in this case, an increase in your vagus nerve (which is a parasympathetic nerve). When you see it with a letter "a" then we have a lack of input coming from the parasympathetic nerve (i.e., Carnial Nerve number 10, aka the vagus nerve)

When it comes to the heart, parasympathetic nerves slow the heart down while sympathetic nerves speed it up. However, please don't think a loss of sympathetic innervation would play a role in this condition because the sympathetic nervous system provides exclusive innervation to the ventricles but only minimal innervation to the atria, while the right vagus nerve directly innervates the SA node and the left vagus nerve innervates the VA node.

Also, the sympathetic nerves emanate from your neck (cervical region) and your sacrum while the middle of your spine (predominately the thoracic region) is where your sympathetic nerves emit from the spinal cord. I'm just giving you this bit of neuro-anatomy because if you see a chiropractor then you would want to have him look at your cervical region because that's where your sympathetics are located ....

OK - I'm thinking off the top of my head now about the vagus nerve. There are baroreceptors in your carotid arteries (in your neck) as well as in your aortic arch which contain vagus nerve innervation. ...I guess I'm trying to think of possible mechanics behind your situation. You exercise - bp goes up, you stop, then maybe there's some delay and baroreceptors are ...well, perhaps they are a bit hypersensitive to the pressure and vagal stimulation is elicited which turn the heart rate (via the SA node) down a bit too far.

Incidentally, there's also a hormone release by the right atrium called ANP (atrial natriuretic peptide) which is one of the few hormones the body releases to reduce blood pressure.

I guess I could provide better guesses with a look at a 12 lead EKG. If you have one there should be EKG output for leads I, II & III along a left column followed by leads aVR, aVL and aVF then the right half of the output should be for leads V1, V2, V3, V4, V5 & V6.
along the very bottom would be an output for Lead 2 which traverses the entire bottom of the page. If you look at that Lead II strip, and compare to the picture of the normal EKG I've included with this blog, do you have a bigger than normal P wave? (this could indicate P-pulmonale) or, does your S-wave plummets down deeply? (perhaps an indication of SA block)

I hope this is all somewhat helpful.

I'm kind of reminded of a sign I saw at the first chiropractor I ever visited. It read something to the effect of "if yours is not a chiropractic problem then chiropractic will not help but, if yours is a chiropractic problem then nothing else will help"

If it's not a chiro issue then ischemia of the SA node or drugs may contribute to possible etiology of an SA block. From a chiro standpoint, a subluxation of the cervical spine may be related to this issue.

Again, please consider leaving an email address as a comment (i will NOT publish it) but will use it to get hold of you with my own personal email in case you might want to share an EKG that I could use to consult w/ my cardio dx teacher then provide feedback.

Best wishes,

Scott :)

TRI-5, Wk5, Day 288 - Tuesday

Made it home before 8 p.m. tonight! :)
I stayed for Radiological Positioning tutoring tonight and it was a very valuable use of time. (...insert time lapse here...)
had to get my classes organized, it's almost 10:30 now - need to clear off & label some lectures I've been recording then get to bed.

of interest ....well -

From Lab Dx we learned a few things that can cause a pregnancy test to be positive besides pregnancy and that would include testucular tumors and hydatiform moles. We started talking about positive urine glucose test which would generally indicate diabetes and learned renal glycosuria could also cause glucose to be excreted in urine.

Monday, June 7, 2010

TRI-5, Wk5, Day 287, Monday


Glancing back at Friday's entry I suppose this day wasn't quite as long yet, I still left home by 6 a.m. and just got back a bit before 9 p.m.

Logan has their 75th Anniversary Homecoming this week. I heard Logan was paying $65 per person for hors d'oeuvres for just one of the evening events which is rather generous considering they're only charging students & staff $35 per ticket. I'm 'not sure if I'll be able hang out all day to take advantage of any of the evening activities but I would like to make some of the earlier morning lectures.

Let's see ...next week we have test in Physical Dx, Cardio Dx, Diversified IV and Lab Dx
The following week is ...hmmm, not positive - I think maybe Biomechanics, Toxicology and HCP ...maybe - the week after that would be Dx Imaging which is the big dog of test ...at least in my mind it's the grand daddy of upcoming exams.

Today's Pic - Logan has a billboard campaign and the picture I choose for today is the billboard I see on the way home off highway 64. Be sure to click on the pic for a full view. Pretty classy campaign if you ask me.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

TRI-5, Wk4, Day 286

Heck of a day - left home around 6 a.m. and got home just a little before midnight. After class got out today I hooked up with my study partner and knocked out chapter 3 reading of Physical Diagnosis (phys dx) then headed back up to the school to finish printing out some supplementary material for Radiographic Positioning and Diagnostic Imaging (dx imag).

I've gotten some great comments and feedback lately. A 47 yo by the name of Roxanne found a blog I did earlier on hyper vagal tone (parasympatheticotonia). She was told she needed a pacemaker but later a heart specialist took an EKG and said her heart was strong and healthy and she had a hyper vagal tone.

FYI - when we're talking about hyper vagal tone, we're talking about cranial nerve number 10 usually denoted CN X. It's a parasympathetic nerve. Two of it's branches innervate the heart, the left branch innervates the VA node and the right branch innervates (connects with) the SA node. The SA node is (ideally) the pace maker of the heart and for most individuals we'd probably like to see that in the 60-90 range. Most books will put that range at 60-100 with over 100 designated as tachacardia and under 60 bpm as bradycardia.

The parasympathetics which innervate the heart act to slow the heart rate down. One can stimulate the vagus innervation by performing a carotid massage which stimulates a baroreceptor which is also innervated by the vagal nerve.

....dang - study partner is here so it's time to crack open the books - i only say dang because there's so much more to talk about ....

Thursday, June 3, 2010

TRI-5, Wk4, Day 285

I need more time ...
I fit in some walking during my lunch hour today so I came home right after class but after eating it was still after 8 p.m. hmmm, it's 9 p.m. now so I guess I could claim the better part of an hour if I wasn't screwing around on facebook. Might have to make some changes there. There were some interesting factoids I learned today ...let me see if I can dig them up ...

Let's see, the notion of dehydration came up today in Lab Dx. Dehydration means you've lost solvent. What is a solvent? Imagine 100 marbles in a gallon of water. The marbles represent the solvent. Now, dump out half the water. We still have 100 marbles of solvent but now only 1/2 gallon of water. which is like having a concentration equivalent to 200 marbles per gallon.
The brain is the first thing to go with dehydration -

People can last about 3 or 4 months without a calcium intake. This is because the body will take what it needs from the bones. The first step in saving calcium is that our body will stop excreting it.

Dx Imaging tutoring was interesting. I talked with our tutor after class about all the people who are taking the class over and she mentioned that she was surprised that so many people had to take it over and she was especially surprised because they weren't the people she would have guessed to have taken any classes over.
I think I understood what she meant. Sometimes one might get the impression that people aren't taking a class (or school in general) serious enough and therefore might not be too surprised if they have to repeat a class. Apparently, there were a lot of people who did take things seriously and are still repeating.

Who knows.
Heck, I think I still need to get some notes sent out to our class.
OK - notes are out - now it's almost 10 - can't wait to sleep!!! :)

Today's picture was obtained by Googling "Bundle Branch Block" (BBB). It's kind of a nice picture of the heart and I guess that's the EKG that's supposed to go with it. From the downward peaks and the picture it looks like a Left BBB which is life threatening while a right BBB is benign. Also looks like a heart rate of 75 bpm. :)

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

TRI-5, Wk4, Day 284

OK, I remember something we went over yesterday in Dx Imaging. It was a study done by a journal called Spine back in 1995 which compared various levels of MDs & DC when it comes to radiology.

Ø Survey Says ….

Groups % Accuracy

Chiropractic Radiologists 71.00
Skeletal Radiologists & Fellows 70.18

Chiropractic Radiology Residents 61.54
General Medical Radiologists 51.64
Medical Radiology Residents 44.64

Medical Clinicians 31.26
Chiropractic Clinicians 28.38

Chiropractic Students 20.45
Medical Students 5.74

Pretty cool Survey as Chiropractors got bragging rights in 3 of the 4 categories :) Also, the 5 radiologist that participated from Logan all scored 100%. The actual study may be found here; Spine vol 20 number 10 1995.

I did see some interesting things on some x-rays today including lung pleura and the abdominal aorta. These things basically appear as shadows on the x-rays but you simply have to know what you're looking for ...and ...having two of those people that scored 100% on the Spine journal study guiding you through things doesn't hurt either. ;)

I've got a handout with 22 EKG strips that need to be interpreted...

I actually am done with classes tomorrow at 12:50 but I'm going to need to hang around for Dx Imaging tutoring which runs from 3:45 to 5:45 so I'll be getting home tomorrow at 7 p.m. instead of 2 p.m. .....

oh well, it's part of my job and will help me to do my job better so that's what I'll do.

Today's picture shows an x-ray with paraspinal stripes which are the shadow outlines I mentioned at the beginning of the blog. This is a pretty cool picture and the stuff looks even better in person. We can also tell a lot about the x-ray by the level of the diaphragm. If the diaphragm is low and you can count all 12 ribs then it's a sign of asthma or COPD, maybe emphysema.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

TRI-5, Wk4, Day 283 ....

I'm having trouble remembering what we did in school today - I know I've got some homework due tomorrow and we have our Physical Dx practical. I think I might have overdone the extracurricular activities last week with those 32 miles. Instead of having more energy, I've been wiped out. I know I nodded off in two different classes today ...definitely not the way to good grades.

I cut the after school walking miles down to 2.7 today and am heading to bed early tonight. :)