Number Three Blog!!!!

RadiologyTechnician.com has this to say about Radiology Blogs:

Everytime you get an X-Ray, something special takes place: your insides are put on black-and-white display right before your very eyes. It may seem like a commonplace medical practice (and it is), but still, there's something really cool about what radiology allows us access to when it comes to our bodies and minds. Learning how to interpret these charts and graphs is not particularly simple, but it's a much needed skill. Radiologists (and those in training) sacrifice a lot of time and energy to perfecting their science, and luckily many of them are blogging about their toil. Here's the best selection of fifty radiology-related blogs out there.

Here's what they say about DoctorDalai.com:

Dalai's PACS Blog: The first thing that intrigued us about Dalai's blog was his inclusion of the term "PACS" in the site's title. Though at first glance it's easy to assume he's making an allusion to political funding, he quickly defines the word as a picture archiving and communications system, or also pain and constant suffering. That sense of wit and redefinition permeates this site.

Why We Love It: A clever and comprehensive blog reflects the jovial expertise of its head radiology writer.

Favorite Post: Radiology App

(The link to the Favorite Post should probably have been:  http://doctordalai.blogspot.com/2011/02/first-diagnostic-radiology-application.html and not the link to the FDA website...)

Sometimes, my expertise isn't jovial, and sometimes there isn't much expertise in my joviality, but I do appreciate the sentiment.  Also, while it's true that I'm the head writer, for the foreseeable future, I'm the only writer.  As for wit, well, I'm reminded of a little poem often inscribed where few women may see it:

Those who write on sh*thouse walls,
Deserve a monument in Heaven's halls.
Something fitting for their wit,
A monument of solid sh*t.

But, once again, I am very honored to be on the list, let alone showing at Number Three!

I have to republish something that was republished on Blog #5, Scan Man's Notes, which was in turn copied from Life in the Fast Lane: 

The ‘Ten Commandments of Emergency Radiology’ according to Touquet et al (1995):

Treat the patient, not the radiograph

Take a history and examination before ordering a radiograph

Request a radiograph only when necessary

Never look at a radiograph without seeing the patient, and never see a patient without looking at the radiograph

Look at every radiograph, the whole radiograph, and the radiograph as a whole
- remember the ABCS: alignment/ adequacy, bones, cartilage (joints) and soft tissues.

Re-examine the patient when there is an incongruity between the radiograph and the expected findings

Remember the rule of twos
— two views, two joints (above and below the injury), two sides (for comparison), two occassions (may need a follow up x-ray) and two radiographs (compare to a normal radiograph)

Take radiographs before and after procedures

If a radiograph does not look quite right ask and listen: there is probably something wrong.

Ensure you are protected by fail safe mechanisms
— establish a quality control system

Are you ER docs listening?  I didn't think so...

Congrats to my fellow Radiology Bloggers!