I hear I will have to read films everyday during rounds!! Someone please give a quick rundown on how to "sound" like a radiologist reading a chest film!! Thanks! 😱
Just make sure you have an organizied search pattern, and comment on normal and abnormal as you go. Everybody has a differenct search pattern, but make sure that yours covers the ENTIRE film. Even if you miss something, you will impress with that kind of approach - just dont miss the bowling ball in the chest and you'll be fine. Good luck!
I mean...how do I describe the diaphragm.."right hemidiaphragm border is sharp, costaphrenic gutter (angle) clear, etc.etc... By the way, I'll use the ABCDEFGHI approach. 😀
Don't go too much into describing normals, keep it to the pertinent issues:
- ET tube position
- NG/OG tube position
- chest tubes/mediastinal drains
- pneumothorax yes/no
- lobar collapse ?
- briefly compare to last prior.
In the MICU, most chests will look like c$(), nobody cares about that subtle density at the left base which could......
Don't try to hunt down small effusions on the half-erect portable films.