Radiologic Technology Week

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Aaron J. Jenne
  • 436th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. --  This week is National Radiologic Technology Week. It’s a time to recognize radiological technicians across the nation for their vital work in the healthcare industry.

This is an annual event, celebrated on the anniversary of Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen’s discovery of the X-ray Nov. 8, 1895.

This discovery revolutionized the medical field and set the stage for diagnostic imaging, which has evolved over the years, bringing never-before-seen ways to observe what’s happening inside the body and determine what medical conditions a patient may have without requiring explorative surgery. Early diagnosis of many conditions would not be possible without the imagery this profession provides.

“If you don’t have [diagnostic imaging], you’re pretty much just guessing what’s wrong with your patient,” said Tech. Sgt. Lachaunda Burley, 436th Medical Support Squadron Diagnostic Imaging flight chief. “You really don’t have the evidence to rule out medical conditions such as fractures, constipation or heart conditions. Without images, you’re pretty much guessing, but with them, you can know exactly what’s going on.”

Air Force diagnostic imaging technicians are trained and certified in X-ray imaging, computerized tomography scans, MRI and other imaging systems. After completing more than a year of training, they begin their important work at medical centers across the world.

“Here at Dover [AFB], we’re a little unique,” Burley said. “We have a small clinic. We’ve only got one exposure room, and our flight of five only provides X-ray imaging for our medical staff, but we really do have a unique and important mission.”

They support the medical staff by providing definitive evidence of disorders to healthcare providers. As subject matter experts, they’re also able to sometimes suggest different images to providers to best meet the patients’ needs and provide the best care possible.

All of this is done on a walk-in basis.

“Some days, we might have one patient,” said Tech. Sgt. Melinda Hayes, 436th MDSS NCO in charge of diagnostic imaging. “Some days, we might have 25. Every day brings something new, and it keeps us on our toes. Because we’re small, we have to always be looking for ways to do things better and improve our patient care.”

With continuous process improvement in mind, the team has made several improvements over the past few years.

The office connected with a secure healthcare network to connect with all other military medical centers. Now they have easy access to all diagnostic images archived by these facilities. They no longer have to request images and wait weeks for them to arrive. Patients can have their records within the same day of their request.

They also received a new X-ray machine that provides a scoliosis survey capability to the clinic. Patients no longer need to be referred to off-base specialists for this procedure.

The flight is constantly looking for ways to provide better patient care, but perhaps the most unique feature of this small team is the large impact they have on the military.

Not only do Team Dover’s radiologic technologists support the needs of clinic patients, they also work hand in hand with the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System. Any time a fallen hero arrives, they support the medical examiner by providing a full body X-ray and CT scan. In addition to standard X-rays, they routinely conduct fluoroscopy, continuous X-ray of moving body structures, and angiography, used to visualize the inside of blood vessels and organs.

“The biggest thing is for us to be able to do a full forensic pathology investigation, which includes autopsy,” said U.S. Army Col. Louis Finelli, AFMES director. “The X-rays and CT scans provide us evidence of injury and potential material of evidentiary value in places we don’t normally dissect, and help us pinpoint evidence. It gives a full three dimensional view of the body and a more complete examination.”

Often the images the DI technicians provide are used to verify cause of death by allowing a more thorough examination, but the information compiled by these tests has been used to improve safety and trauma medical care.

AFMES is in the unique position of examining every military combat-related death. Their unique mission allows them to determine trends and suggest life saving changes to medical treatment procedures.

In a 2007 study, the AFMES staff determined that current field trauma care for a pneumothorax, a condition in which the chest cavity fills with air limiting or stopping a lung’s ability to expand, was only effective in approximately 75 percent of military members.

To relieve the symptoms of this condition, medics insert a needle into the chest cavity to allow air to escape and the lung to expand.

“It was shown, because our population is fairly physically fit and biased with a thicker chest wall, the catheters were not actually penetrating the pectoralis muscles and getting into the thorax,” Finelli said. “We put out a bulletin to the service surgeon generals to change that practice. We have the unique ability to provide these types of findings back to the clinicians and influence healthcare.”

These findings affected the way combat trauma care is conducted, Finelli said. This study started a trend in research to influence healthcare.

“That was the first time there was really clinical impact, and the lightbulb went off,” Finelli said. “We realized, this is valuable information, so we began routinely providing feedback to trauma surgeons, first responders and equipment managers to improve medical care across the military.”

Since then, they have provided feedback on intervention placement and effectiveness of tourniquets, intravenous catheters and intraosseous catheters, which allows for direct injection to bone marrow. The images provided by the diagnostic imaging flight are significant to these findings.

“The support we get is excellent,” Finelli said. “It is not a usual practice for a clinical radiologic technologist to take X-rays of deceased individuals, so it’s a whole other world for them clinically and professionally. They’ve met the task. It’s a difficult mission to do, and they do it with professionalism and excellent, unwavering support.”

The members of the diagnostic imaging flight rose to the challenge of supporting a mission unique to this installation and balance two missions each and every day.

“At the end of the day, it’s really rewarding knowing that you did your part to honor the sacrifices of our fallen heroes,” Hayes said. “We treat every single person with honor and respect; accurately and timely to get them home as soon as possible.”