What I do.

So, most of my friends and family know that I'm a Radiographer, Radiology Technologist, X-ray Technologist, X-ray Technician, CT technician..............you get the idea. The general assumption is that I lay people on tables and push buttons. That is true in some sense, but the field of Radiology is much more in depth than just depressing some pieces of plastic connected to wires. At it's core, radiology is one of the front lines of medicine. Think about it, you go see your doctor with a lingering pain that just won't  go away. Most people have feelings of apprehension from the possibilities they discuss with their doctor, and then they are referred for imaging and/or laboratory testing. I see a number of patients through the ER, in which case people are almost always in pain or worried about their condition. That is where the most important part of my job comes in, helping people relax and explaining to them what I'm doing, why I'm doing it, and when they can expect their results. I do all these things in a pleasant way, usually just shooting the breeze the entire time. A smile, my friends, can go a long way, as can people learning exactly what is going on around them. I find many of us in the medical field tend to take for granted that we know what drug is what and what test does what. The average Joe down the street who cut his finger off and the average Jane up the road who has a kidney stone don't know the inner workings of a hospital, they just know they're in a lot of pain, and they want help feeling better. A guy walking in with a kind smile and words of consolation are much more important than any amount of radiation I can produce, because at the end of the day healing starts and ends with people, not technology.