FEATURES OF GENERAL PATIENT CARE

if,
and we shall understand him only having appreciated him as technical

a
factor, we then consider him as an individual.
Thus we may leave the X-ray room and go to the waiting-room to
fetch the 'next lumbar spine', but by the time we get there we must have
stopped thinking about the examination of body region or clinical

a
a
condition; we must have read the name on the request form and we
must be ready to greet Mr Smith as person.

a
We must now see him as an individual and we must not let him hear
us refer to him in the terms previously described. known for has been

It
patients to be amused to realize that they were being described as 'row

a
of barium meals waiting to be screened', but many will be hurt. In any
case, whatever the patient's reaction may be, must lower the professional

it
status of the radiographer in the patient's estimation when he realizes
that he so regarded.
is

GENERAL PRELIMINARIES TO THE

EXAMINATION
In the moment of contact when the first impression to be made upon
by name with smile as the radiographer is
the patient, he must be greeted
if
a

were pleased to see him. When he taken to the X-ray room all must be
is

ready to receive him, and the room must have been tidied after the
previous examination. To enter the X-ray room and find muddled and
it

untidy leaves the patient with an impression of inefficiency in both the

radiographer and the department which will be difficult to change.
it

He may well ask himself 'Do these people really know what they are
doing
?'

An explanation should be given to the patient of the procedure in

which he to play so important part. This explanation will reassure
is

him and make his co-operation easier and more certain. Radiographers
by

often feel that patients strain their forbearance seeming stupid and
unco-operative, and in some cases this true. At the same time we should
is

whether our explanations are as lucid and adequate as they

ask ourselves
should be; when they are, they certainly help both the patient and
ourselves.
must be ascertained that the right patient has been found, and his
It

name and the examination to be undertaken should be checked carefully

with the patient and the request form. he has had to undergo special
If

preparation he should be asked whether this has been done, before he

is

told to get undressed ready for the X-ray examination.