Essay On The Pros And Cons Of Diagnostic Medical Imaging

When I look back on the past 14 years that I’ve worked in the medical field, both inside of the military and outside in the civilian market, I am surprised to see changes that I can honestly say make life easier for both patients and providers. It’s one of the few aspects in life I can say have drastically improved without the major inconvenience of major ‘cons’ to what has been accomplished. In the field of diagnostic medical imaging, we have seen leaps and bounds in the capacity of the machines and what they can see. The images that we take are instantly accessible to both patients and medical providers in an instant, being interpreted and diagnosed often before a patient has even left the hospital. Even through the merging of technologies …show more content…
Yet while this technology makes the accessibility to care even easier, it can tend to create lazy technologists, since imaging can often be repeated back-to-back until an adequate diagnostic study is attained. To combat this issue, new quality control standards had to be put in place to ensure that proper protocols and procedures were being followed along with the adherence to the rule of ALARA (As Low As Reasonably Achievable.) The pros in this situation still by-far outweigh the cons as far as patient care is concerned. And in the end the fact that an image set can be completed and sent through unified systems to any clinic, and almost any hospital though the utilization of combined network systems, we can ensure that patients aren’t repeatedly exposed to radiation for the sheer fact that images aren’t at hand for follow up exams. Further improving on this new concept of combined networks, new systems are coming into light, merging programs that all clinics use to have all patient information at hand and not split into different domains. Unifying the levels of care into one, broad access program, that unifies everything from patient notes to lab