Real-Life Communication
As a Nuclear medicine technologist (NMT), communication is an important
part of your job. You explain the procedures to your patients. You explain
highly technical things in a way that an ordinary person can understand. You
answer questions appropriately. You reassure patients and calm their fears.
When talking to patients, you consider their age, because you would not talk
to a child the same way you talk to a 30-year old or to an 80-year old.
Today,
you are going to do a bone scan on Josh, a six-year-old cancer patient. Josh's
doctor wants to find out if his cancer has spread into his bones.
You
will start by injecting a radiopharmaceutical into a vein in Josh's arm. Later,
you will use a machine to take a diagnostic picture.
Josh's mom is
with him. Both Josh and his mom are frightened. Josh is afraid of pain. He
thinks that you are going to stick a needle right into his bone.
Josh's
mom doesn't understand what the test is all about. Also, she is worried about
her son being exposed to radiation. She sees that you are wearing protective
gloves, but her son is not. She asks how her son can be safe without the gear.
Before you begin answering their questions, you need to know these
facts:
NMTs use radiopharmaceuticals to help physicians diagnose and
treat diseases such as cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer's and others.
Radiopharmaceuticals
contain a radioactive substance. They are made from purified radionuclides.
Radionuclides are unstable atoms that emit radiation.
NMTs administer
the radiopharmaceutical in three ways, depending on the situation. They might
give the drug by injection, as a drink or as an inhalant.
Safety precautions
are very important for the NMT and the patient. NMTs expose themselves to
radiation regularly. Therefore, they use shielded syringes, gloves and other
devices to protect themselves. They also observe strict guidelines that tell
them how to handle the radioactive materials. For the patient, the amount
of radiation is similar to the amount of radiation in an ordinary x-ray.
"The
benefits outweigh the risks," says Lisa Betts. She's a clinical coordinator
for a nuclear medicine technology program. "But most patients
don't have any reaction to the radiation."
After administering the
radiopharmaceutical, NMTs use diagnostic imaging equipment to take a picture
of the drug in the patient's body. They position the patient in a gamma scintillation
camera, called a scanner. The scanner takes a picture of the radiopharmaceutical
in the body.
To a child, the scanner can look very big and scary.
The scanning part of a test can take quite a while. Sometimes it takes 20
minutes or longer. Patients must lie very still and not move during this time.
The test is painless, but sometimes people get stiff from being in
one position for so long.
The test result is a picture that shows where
the drug has localized in the tissues or organs. These images show up on a
computer screen or on film. Medical professionals know how much radiation
shows up in normal tissue or organs. If something is wrong, there will be
a higher than expected or lower than expected amount of radiation in that
organ or tissue.
What do you say to Josh? What do you say to his mom?
Want
to learn more? Check out this URL:
Winning Ways to Talk
with Young Children
Internet: http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/family/350-721/350-721.html