Hey all... It seems so rare that I get on this. I forget about it every now and then. It is way cool that everyone is out there getting all kinds of hands on. I love that we can log on and share our experiences. It sometimes makes me a little jealous... lol, I am in a smaller place and do not see much of the congenital or pediatric stuff. I get a lot of Afib and "murmur" patients. It seems so different than what we hear in school. I like it though. I have done some OR stuff. Several TEE's, cardioversions, treadmill and Dobut stresses. We are constantly busy. I am doing full studies by myself. It is way cool. Oh, a bit of advise that I just got was to slightyly rotate counter clockwise when looking for RARV view. Gotta go now... talk soon>

Extern is... loving something sooo much you'll do it for free for an entire year.

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Can you guess what this is on a patient presenting with:

Chest Pain

Elevated Troponins

Abnormal EKG

and Clean Coronary Arteries on Cath......

How's everyone doing on extern?! :-)

Hey!! I hope everyone is doing good and learning lots on extern! :-) lol I definitely am! I LOVE my extern here in Boise. It's been soooo hot here the past week (like 106 degrees) but I think I'm finally getting used to this hot weather. Lol I have been on extern for 1 month and have learned soooo much its crazy! I have been involved with bubble studies, difinity, TEE, pediatric echoes, ICU, CCU, 2 code blue cases, and last Tuesday I went into the cath lab and watched an ASD closure. It was AMAZING! :-) I am now scanning inpatients and outpatients and my CI checks my work after I am finished! I feel like I've already learned so much. Also, last Thursday I got to scan my first pediatric echoes in the NICU. A 2 day old baby (with PS) and an 8 hr. baby (with an esophageal hernia). I LOVED scanning the babies! They were adorable lol well I better get going! talk to ya guys soon!

Boy Oh Boy

These past few weeks have been very busy for me. I have been seeing everything and anything that i could possibly see. I have been in peds cases, adult, TEE, ER, Bubble, Definity, and everything else. I am just starting my job as an PRN EKG Tech here in the hospital in addition to the Externship. I am scanning like crazy but i think that i am being quizzed more than i am scanning. I have started running my own TEE's, with supervision of course (cardiologist) :) The techs down here are happy that i have been able to catch on so fast, cause we have been really short these past couple weeks and they really appreciate it when i can take the paperwork and put it in the computer for them, or take a patient back to the room and get them ready for the echo. I have been putting in 11 hour days the past week but this week i have had the pleasure of working 12 hours a day. Gotta Love it :)

Salt Lake has been really hot these past weeks, in the 100's. I am so happy to have an apartment with air conditioning. I was so happy to see the rain today because it cooled off our 105 degree weather today.

Oh another thing that i have found out about dear ol' Utah is that July 24th is a Holiday :) Pioneer Day's celebration is bigger and more extravagant than the 4th of July. Im so happy that i get to see fireworks twice in one month. Plus, down here you can light your fireworks a week before and a week after the holidays, so really i get fireworks all month long:)

Hope everyone is having a fun time on Extern:)

Woo Extern!

Things have been pickin up on externship. Finally getting some scanning time in after mastering their worksheet they turn in to cardiologists. It's a lot of fun to scan pathology. It's sad for the patient, but it really makes me interested. I still enter everything into the computer and take numbers, but they send me ahead to start a lot of inpatient exams, and if it's really busy i'll be sent down to the department to start on outpatients while the other techs finish other exams. I've seen everything from TEE, to stress testing, to surgery, to MRSA patients. I even had to hold an AMS MRSA patient's hand. I took a shower after that one. This week i even get to go see a robotic surgery and we're trying out a bicycle stress echo with contrast injected through the foot. Should be pretty interesting to see how we're going to actually complete that exam (seeing as how the foot is strapped down and completly covered). If anyone's actually reading these how much 3D echo do you use? My CI is working a full volume quantification into the regular protocol after he went to a conference. It's really interesting. :) Anyways, I love extern a lot and am a lot more focused than i could ever be in a classroom environment. Hope everyone's doing well and having a lot of fun!

Kyle

Code Blue in the ER!

I was sent down to the ER to do a stat echo... the technologist was coming down to met me shortly after he finished a follow-up difinity study, he wanted me to get it started. When I checked my order in the chart I noticed that she was DNR. Her indication was CHF with a history of a recent MI. Well, her LV function wasn't very good and her EF was in the 30's... the ordering cardiologist stepped in while I was scanning and asked how it looked, I explained the LV function and showed her what I had. She noted that it didn't look very good. She left and I continued to scan. The tech watching over me showed up and as I was showing him the images I was getting she went asystole and coded! Her EF immediately dropped down to about 10% Everyone rushed in but since she was DNR they pushed a few drugs and tried to get a rhythm. It was pretty intense but I was cool as a cucumber. The cardiologist jokingly gave me a hard time asking what I did and another ER doc responded that I was pushing too hard :) (I definitely wasn't) It was pretty crazy to watch her heart slow down and pretty much stop, her apex was the only wall segment even trying to contract.

Anywho, everything is really fun here, they trust me to do studies by myself so I am doing full echo's and the write ups, while they just check... I'm pretty sure I should just get signed off on regular 2D stuff :)