Last Day

My elective placement in PET / CT has come to end. I am very grateful for the support of the PET / CT team who have answered questions so patiently (sometimes the same question attenuation correction was very confusing !). The last day was full of patient challenges, for instance a patient who had been unable to endure MRI and needed to see the scanner and be reassured, a patient who had recent major resection of a tumour and now faced the possibility of recurrence and was angry, a patient who had endured chemo and become needle phobic and had very difficult veins, a nervous patient who was hard to keep in the rest room after the radioisotope injection, a patient who confused by the instructions started to remove all their clothing (the room camera monitor was turned off). Working in PET / CT has certainly brought home to me how the patients prior experiences of imaging and treatment impact on their behaviour. Also that patients facing a health crisis need to be supported with good explainations, reassurance and patience.