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McKenna Loftus

Mrs. Widrick

Lowville Hospital: Radiology Rotation 12/7-12/9

December 9th, 2021

This week I had the opportunity to shadow the radiology department at Lowville

Hospital, it was very interesting to me. But, I found it to be very slow paced throughout the three

days I was there. I noticed that all of the technicians had a lot of down time, and it was shocking

to me because I expected them to be busy. From being able to schedule appointments for exams,

to having emergent exams coming in from the Emergency Room and also from patients who

have been admitted to the hospital for different reasons, I thought that they all would constantly

be running around. I realized how many different career options there are when you’re a

radiology technician; usually there are people who can do multiple different things, such as x-ray

and MRI, or CT scan and Ultrasound.

I was able to observe many different knee x-rays while I was there. After being able to

look through all of the images taken of the different people, I discovered how interesting and

how different the knee looks after a total-knee replacement. Knee replacements are most

common in people that are 50 or older. Pain can come from the typical everyday wear and tear to

the joint but could also result from an injury. It is also most common that there is some type of

arthritis in the knee. There are numerous different types, but some of the most common are;

osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. When the pain becomes simply unbearable and the other

treatment options (physical therapy, anti-inflammatory medications) are ineffective, surgery is

recommended. The recovery time for total-knee replacements is different for everyone, but is
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commonly 3-6 weeks before being able to return to any type of physical activity that may be

rather strenuous on the joint.

In addition to the different x-rays, I was lucky enough to be able to watch in on some

MRIs. I was able to observe two MRIs, one of the shoulder and one of the head. With the

imaging done on the shoulder, I realized that the patient had previously had a shoulder

replacement. With MRIs, it is better to not have any metal on your being or in your body. Due to

the shoulder replacement, it was hard for readable pictures to be captured. It was interesting to

see the pictures that were able to be captured, and it was interesting to see the long process

needed to capture said pictures. As I was conducting the additional research, I gained some

interesting information on shoulder replacements. Like total-knee replacements, shoulder

replacements could also be needed as a result of different types of invasive and painful arthritis.

There are a few different types of shoulder replacements: an anatomical total shoulder

replacement, a reverse total shoulder replacement, and a partial shoulder replacement. Each

patient undergoes whichever is best fit to their situation. With modern medicine in today's world,

this could be done as an out-pateint surgery. However, some people are required to stay

overnight for additional observation. On the contrary, I wasn’t given much information about the

MRI of the head. However, I did figure out that Lowville Hospital is not equipped to perform

any sort of neurosurgery, I was told that they don’t have a neurologist that is there everyday.

However, they were checking the patient for any signs of trauma to the head, or something that

could be worrisome. I am not sure of the outcome of the exam, but they were thinking the patient

had something going on due to the memory loss and the sudden fainting they were experiencing

prior; the patient was elderly.

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In conclusion to this week of clinical rotations, I feel as even though radiology was very

interesting, I don’t necessarily know if it is something I could make a life-long career out of. I’m

not sure if every radiology department is like Lowville’s, but it’s definitely something that’s in

question. Nonetheless, I am happy that I was able to experience all that I did and I am happy to

have meant the people that I did, some were extremely helpful and made the experience a bit

better. I realize now that I need something that is more fast paced, and something that doesn’t

have a lot of down time and where there is always an opportunity to learn.
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References

Foran, J. R. H. (2020, June). Total knee replacement - orthoinfo - aaos. OrthoInfo.

Retrieved from https://orthoinfo.aaos.org/en/treatment/total-knee-replacement/.

Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. (2021, August 18). Shoulder

replacement surgery. Mayo Clinic. Retrieved December 14, 2021, from

https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/shoulder-replacement/about/pac-2051

9121.