Ep. 61 | Mark Hodges & Dei West, Imaging

Transcript

Whether it's an X-ray, MRI, CT scan or ultrasound, medical imaging helps answer some of healthcare's biggest questions. Welcome to what Brings You In Today, a podcast from SMC health. I'm kara hope rockwell and I'm Erika Bennett. And today I'm here with Mark Hodges, who's the director of our imaging services, and Dei West, who is our MRI safety officer at sgmc health.

So what brings you all in today to promote all things imaging? All right. Imaging plays a big role. And within a health system often not really thought about, but definitely something that's ordered all the time. So yes, Mark, you want to kick us off and tell us maybe just a overview of the role the imaging plays at health?

You know, when you hear when you hear the word imaging, you think of x ray. You think of when you have a fracture, a broken bone. You come to the hospital, you're going to get an x ray. And that's where, you know, that's the starting point for us. That's that's the entry into medical imaging. So there's so much more to it than, just than just that modality there.

CT there's more. There's nuclear medicine, Pet ultrasound, interventional radiography, Bowen D Mamo. So we have all these different modalities that were at one time considered x ray or radiology. So the newer term for it that that's come about is medical imaging to encompass all of these modalities and not just consider it just x ray. Yeah, yeah. Before we dive too deep into the details, let's introduce yourself.

Say how did you get into imaging? What's your career path been? Oh, wow. Where do you start? Yeah. So I, I was dating my wife at the time we were dating, and I was going to be a shoe. She was going to Wiregrass, and she said, we need to swing by the school. I've got to talk to my advisor.

So she was in there talking to the advisor. I was out pacing the hallway, just going back and forth, and and her advisor said, who's that guy out in the hallway? And she said, you know, that's my boyfriend, and pull him in. I need to talk to him. So he was trying to recruit me into into Wiregrass. It was about tech at the time.

And I said, no, I'm already in school at the issue. And honestly, I was I was headed into nursing. I just finished up my core and he challenged me. He said, go up to the program, go up to the department and and just look at it and see. So, he connected me with one of the radiologists. I come up here and stood there behind the radiologist for an hour or so, seeing the images, seeing what they were doing.

And I was hooked. At that point, instead of treating a disease, we were able to see it. We were seeing what was going on. You know, inside the body fascinated me. The next week I was in, so I started working in the field, probably my second quarter within the program. I was in a unique situation with Smith Northview.

Come in and help them transition to the new hospital. And about the same time is when we started accepting students from Wiregrass and it just went from there. Just went from there. That's crazy. What a crazy story. Yep yep yep. How about you? I started at Smith Northview when I was 16 years old. Oh my goodness. The first summer that they came to vowed to

So I started at the switchboard just answering the phones on the weekends. And it was really great because I got to see all the different aspects of healthcare. I knew that that was something that I was interested in. And so, just been able to see the different parts of, like what, nursing and the E.R. and radiology. And so I worked up in through high school in rep.

Once I did switchboard, then I went into registration, worked on the weekends and doing that. And I just saw that radiology was something that fit me and my personality. It was a quick turnover. The people were, you know, fun and energetic, and you weren't stuck in one spot all day long. And so it was constant turnover, and it just seemed like a good group of people to work with.

So I've been there ever since. Yeah. It's so interesting, the dynamic that what you were mentioning, radiology, you get most of the time is probably what you get outpatient or inpatient. But you know, you have people that are a lot of times relatively healthy that are going in there and checking things out versus like someone that might be in a hospital.

00:04:48:11 - 00:05:05:07
Unknown
I mean, I know you have both words worlds, but it is interesting in healthcare, you can kind of make it what you want it to be like. Exactly. Yeah. So that's pretty cool. And with the radiology, how, you know, we think about labs and stuff. So always like to think like labs in the blood and the blood work diagnosis something.

00:05:05:07 - 00:05:28:08
Unknown
But then also the imaging you got to have that to kind of complement. And we have lab as the chemical component of diagnosing. And then we have, you know, the imaging side which is the visual aspect of it. And again, there's so many modalities that can confirm if there's a negative finding in one modality, that doesn't mean that's it.

00:05:28:14 - 00:05:55:17
Unknown
There's there's still suspicion based off of the lab work based off the physical assessment by the physician. So we may or they the physician may order a different modality to to see. And very often is when pathology will be found in that, in that other modality. So we were talking we did an interview with radiation oncologist daughter. And before this.

00:05:55:17 - 00:06:14:22
Unknown
And so just the fascination with how we can even have technology that does what it is like, the machines, the imaging machines, like how they're able to mean how they even work in general is just like fascinating. And then you learn all about that and you learn how to see what is different in there and work with the radiologist for that.

00:06:14:22 - 00:06:42:04
Unknown
So I think it's a very cool there's a different world between the operator and the engineer who's working on this equipment. And I tell you more is one of those that will, you know, we need to have a physics brain for sure. We need a subject matter expert like D and the other MRI technologist to to be able to be that liaison between me and the engineer so that we can communicate back and forth, because if not a lot of is just over your head.

00:06:42:04 - 00:07:03:23
Unknown
And again, you look at the components of how an imaging is produced through MRI. It's mind boggling. It's it's mind boggling. And it's completely separate from how radiation works and how an X-ray or CT is, you know, developed. And it I tell everybody that starts training. I said, you take everything you learn in x ray, you throw it away, all of that away.

00:07:04:04 - 00:07:29:00
Unknown
And we're going to start fresh. I'm going to teach you a whole new set of physics. So talk a little bit about your role, because I understand that it's a newer role here at the health system. Correct. So with some of the new accreditation organizations, they have started really looking and diving deep into patient safety and making sure that not just patients are safe, the employees, the facilities and everything runs smoothly and that we're taking care of everyone.

00:07:29:00 - 00:07:55:18
Unknown
And so ACR has created these positions. There's so which is what I am, Mister Safety Officer. There's a mask which is a physicist or physics expert. And then we have an MD, which would be our radiologist who would be our primary go to, who's the most knowledgeable about implants and scanning and things of that nature. But we just kind of make sure that we're taking care of our patients and doing it the safest way possible.

00:07:55:18 - 00:08:17:08
Unknown
If there's an implant that ten years ago that we couldn't scan, now we have so much more information about it, and we can scan things and we can do it safely. And that's kind of the role of trying to figure that out and where and how. Talk a little bit about MRI and what makes it kind of unique and safety wise.

00:08:17:09 - 00:08:41:06
Unknown
Yeah. Well it is a big magnet. And one of the things that people forget is that they say, oh, well, it's I don't hear it. So it's off. Right? It's not. That magnet is always on. It is always pulling at the same amount of strength no matter what. And it just uses a completely different set of physics to produce its image.

00:08:41:11 - 00:09:18:02
Unknown
And, you know, it just is its own, its own little world. Yeah. So, like, you can't you have to make sure you're checking everybody. Don't have any. My badge is different from everybody else. Like I don't wear anything on here that can be pulled. We're working on getting, you know, staff and throughout the facility screen so that we know, without a shadow of doubt there responding to a code or anything like that, that they are safe to come in just because not only can a device or a crash cart or something like that be pulled in, but if I have an employee that has a pacemaker, defibrillator or something like that, it could harm them

00:09:18:02 - 00:09:35:22
Unknown
as well if they were coming in to help. So we're just trying to make sure that it's that powerful. Yeah, yeah. You read these, you read these articles. One of the last ones I read, I, I want to say it was in South America. One of the law enforcement officers was escorting a prisoner into the into the magnet room.

00:09:36:00 - 00:09:58:08
Unknown
It pulled his it pulled his weapon out of the holster. It took a come along, which is, you know, a farm, a farm tool that you would use to move heavy equipment on the trailers. It took a come along to pull this, to pull the pistol off to the magnet. Yes. It's very, very strong. Yeah. We've been very fortunate not to have, you know, an event like that.

00:09:58:08 - 00:10:26:23
Unknown
There was one where and this is, this is where the role of D comes in. It's very important in implementing better screening processes because we had one patient come in with dementia. And as we're going through the screening process, they forgot they had a wristband on. And it was a weighted wristband that had something to do with the, the with the, the nerve issues that he was having in his arm.

00:10:27:00 - 00:10:47:14
Unknown
Anyway, the, the the staff got him into the room in the minute they sat him on the table, it, pulled it and got into the magnet. Well, we were in there trying to pull this, pull this, this dissuaded bracelet off and it began to tear in. What we were seeing was thousands of little weighted babies in this. In this.

00:10:47:16 - 00:11:20:18
Unknown
Yeah, in this wristband. So I called the engineer and he was like, Mark, stop right now. Like I'm on my way like you. This could be a huge problem. So he came in and we sat there, put our heads together. We had to take a, a pillowcase and slide in between the weighted band and the magnet. And it took both of us pulling on this to pull this, you know, half pound weighted wristband on had we had we had we ripped the fabric on it.

00:11:20:20 - 00:11:39:14
Unknown
There's would have been in every one. Yeah. Everywhere. And that has happened in one of the areas, you know, close to us that that very thing happened. And that magnet was shut down for three weeks because they were cleaning out these pieces from this unit. Oh my goodness. There is a way to ramp it down and there's an emergency button.

00:11:39:14 - 00:12:04:07
Unknown
It's a very expensive button to push. Very expensive. Yeah. So that's another component of imaging is these machines that you're using are not cheap. They are very expensive. Require a lot of training. I mean, it's not like what the life person might think. You just put it in and they're taking a picture and you have to learn all of that, all the ins and outs of every single machine.

00:12:04:08 - 00:12:30:17
Unknown
And just recently, what was it 2 or 3 years ago when we went to our new machines throughout the organization, and I scanned on the same scanner for 14 years, that's all I ever knew. I could do it in my sleep. Basically, it was all muscle memory. And so when we got these new machines, we were all super excited about it, but it was literally like learning a different language, the way that technology had advanced so much in these machines.

00:12:30:17 - 00:12:50:18
Unknown
And it really it took, you know, all of us really having to dedicate some time to it, to perfect it and get back to where we were with our old stuff. But it's come so far. Yeah, it's kind of like a pain in the beginning, because you're having to work on a new system that you don't understand, but then you can see the benefits once you get used to it.

00:12:50:23 - 00:13:09:00
Unknown
Can you talk about some of those advancements in technology that you've seen over your career? It's amazing. It is. You know, when we came in or when I came in and I, I can almost remember D as a student, we still had a dark room, I believe, and we were a dark room. It was still there, but we weren't using it.

00:13:09:01 - 00:13:33:20
Unknown
Okay. So when I came in, we had a dark room. We were, you know, film filming in film through the processor, waiting 90s for it to drop. You're there praying, Lord, please don't have this image because the doctor's waiting for it. So you know, all that's gone. We went to plates and now it's digital. So it's the minute you make an exposure.

00:13:33:21 - 00:14:01:15
Unknown
That 90s is gone. It images up immediately. We can make manipulations there on the screen to improve the image quality. MRI for, for example, five years ago, a lot of their protocols were 60 to 90 minutes. Bringing in the newer equipment has reduced the time, the scan time on that in conjunction, we worked on our protocols.

00:14:01:15 - 00:14:29:02
Unknown
We cleaned those up to reduce it even more. And then we added a a software component called boost on this. So we went on some of our exams. We went from 60 minute scan times down to what, 17 17 minutes we can do. So, let's just say five years ago we were averaging about 550 misses per month on four scanners.

00:14:29:04 - 00:14:54:06
Unknown
Now we're we're about 1100 plus per month on three scanners. Wow. On three, just because of the technology and bringing up our protocols. And the patients are so thankful to say so much better. Like, we have headphones, they can listen to music now and it's instead of a 45 minute scan, which they all think they're coming in for a 45 minute scan.

00:14:54:06 - 00:15:08:21
Unknown
But when I tell them I'm like, oh, it'll be done in 20 minutes, they're like, really? Yeah. And I get them up and like, oh, wow, that didn't even seem like that. And I'm like, it's so, so much more comfortable. We have bigger boards now, so it's not nearly as small as it used to be. And it's a lot better for the patients.

00:15:09:02 - 00:15:34:02
Unknown
Yeah. MRI are the ones that sometimes people say are claustrophobic. Right, right. Yes. Yeah. It's they say it's like going in a tunnel and it is. And so, you know, I've always joked part of my job is kind of being a therapist. Like you kind of walk them through it, you know, talk them through the whole thing. And that can be anywhere from putting a washcloth over their eyes, you know, giving them music, talking to them throughout the scan, letting them know, hey, you're not in there by yourself.

00:15:34:02 - 00:15:53:03
Unknown
I didn't leave, but, I mean, it just takes a little bit of everything to kind of sometimes get those patients through those exams in the shorter time frame really, really helps to get all the images that we need. So the patient gets the exam and they can get the results they need. Yeah, yeah. And I think we have the largest bore size of our MRI.

00:15:53:03 - 00:16:15:19
Unknown
So that that that's being made without having to go to an open unit, which we really don't, we don't prefer closed units or they images. I know a lot of people, there was some hype around the open, but now with the board size being so much larger in that better image quality, it really is better if you can to it is it is get the full.

00:16:15:21 - 00:16:36:21
Unknown
Our claustrophobic rate has gone down because of it. Yeah. Like I used to have. You know I'd say 1 to 2 a day maybe, or somebody that came in medicated, you know, where they had taken something to help. And now it's 1 or 2 a week if that. So I mean, it's dropped tremendously and it really, really makes a difference.

00:16:37:01 - 00:17:04:16
Unknown
That's good. Yeah. And that is an option. If you are really claustrophobic, you could ask your doctor for a medicine to help you with that. Just that procedure. And then with the same advancements in MRI, we've had it, you know, within CT as well. In what a CT stand for. Cat scan, Cat scan so that, you know, when I came in 20, 20 plus years ago, a head could take 30, 35 minutes just to scan ahead.

00:17:04:17 - 00:17:34:10
Unknown
We're doing that in two minutes. Oh my goodness. So, yeah, there's been so much advancement. You know, you started out with a one slice CT. Then they went up to a four and 816. So everybody was you know, trying to position themselves within the market to have the highest seat. What does that mean. Like so yeah. So slice comes down to the detector size and the speed of scan and how fast it when it can acquire the images.

00:17:34:12 - 00:17:58:23
Unknown
So like the last one that we put in down in the Ed, it's a 256 slice which the time that we put it in there was only four that had been installed in the Southeastern United States. But this gives us such a, such an increase in speed of scan that we can we can actually scan the heart in motion without there being any artifact, any motion, any of that.

00:17:58:23 - 00:18:23:06
Unknown
So what we'll do is take the leads, we'll hook it up to the unit. We'll bring the patient in, and that unit will coordinate its scan in between the heartbeat. So fascinating equipment. Yeah. And that's especially important in the Ed when you need those results quickly. Yes. Yeah. A lot of the newer equipment coming in has the ability to to diagnose.

00:18:23:06 - 00:18:45:17
Unknown
It will run QC program every 24 hours. If there's an issue it will send into headquarters. Hey we have a detector issue a cell maybe going out. It'll go ahead and order it and it will have it in process. And we'll also have something in queue for the engineers to know, hey, we need to be putting some attention on this equipment down here.

00:18:45:19 - 00:19:11:21
Unknown
That's very interesting. I know that probably the biggest thing that you see, if you go in the air and you're taking it machine to a patient like you do when you take mobilize and go to the patient, they're looking at whoever's doing the test to give them some inkling of it's something wrong. You say, can you tell me and I okay, I'm annoyed and I know that you can't really do that at that point, so tell a little bit about that.

00:19:11:22 - 00:19:36:23
Unknown
What is the process once the image is taken and how that works? It's difficult. It's very difficult, you know, especially when you're starting out. Because the staff don't want to say no. They don't want to say, yeah, I don't see anything. They try to bribe you for sure. They will. You just have to. You have to understand that, you know, we're we're here to provide a service to assist the physician.

00:19:37:00 - 00:19:56:20
Unknown
And and that's what it comes down to. We're here to take the image not allowed to be able to to give you the diagnosis. That's the physician's job to give you the diagnosis and also what treatment is going to be provided. So we explain the process. We take the image. Once it's processed we'll get it to the radiologist.

00:19:56:22 - 00:20:16:00
Unknown
And then the radiologist interpretation will go to the physician. So it is one of the more difficult and frustrating parts of the job, because you do want to give them a little bit of relief because I've had I've had patients grab my arm, please just tell me. Just tell me something. Yeah. I'm like like we know. You know.

00:20:16:02 - 00:20:47:01
Unknown
Exactly. You can see it. You know the company. You're going to be fine. Yeah, yeah, going to be fine. And about how long does it take to get the report back from the radiologist? Because I'm sure the time on that has also decrease with the advancements in technology as well. It has. So it it's twofold. So because of the speed of the equipment where we can accommodate a higher volume of patients, that's also come to kind of a bottleneck with the with the physician.

00:20:47:02 - 00:21:18:11
Unknown
Does it make more physicians? Yeah. So in one of the one of the issues that that that is nationwide is a radiologist availability. So recruiting that's been very difficult. So what we've done is we brought in some AI components that that will assist them. You know, five years ago there was an author and I'll won't say his name, but, he wrote a book predicting that AI was going to take over for the radiologist and that there would be no need for him.

00:21:18:11 - 00:21:44:06
Unknown
And, that possibly could have had a negative effect on these younger physicians going into the field saying, you know what? I don't want it to be because I'm not going to have a job, and that's not the case. AI is an assisting tool. It helps. But even on my scanner, like we have some AI generated auto scan features and you still have to perfect it.

00:21:44:08 - 00:22:07:19
Unknown
Nothing is perfect. Can't take away the human element. Exactly. Absolutely. It helps, but it's not. I don't want artificial. Yeah, yeah. The last thing you want is as a patient to come into a facility. And all you're doing is interacting with a machine. Yeah. I mean, you see the frustration that you have when you're just, you know, dealing with a call tree, trying to get a human person to to just answer a question.

00:22:07:19 - 00:22:26:16
Unknown
So the last thing a patient wants to do is just walk in and not have any human contact. So, going back to the question, as far as the radiologist, yes, they're their turnaround time is much quicker. And we have some AI tools with that. We also have brought in TeleRadyo. So that gives us some support as well.

00:22:26:18 - 00:22:54:07
Unknown
So if our radiologists who are on site are backed up, we just go ahead. We switch over to Telluride and we bring in that assistance as well. So we have our benchmarks too, for, you know, your stats, your traumas, your margins. And those metrics look really, really good. And especially for those for those traumas and strokes, I'm sure you have to navigate, like you said, you have to almost triage the images for a site for the emergent.

00:22:54:07 - 00:23:17:03
Unknown
Right, hospitals versus something that's not life threatening. Agree. And then the next part of that is, okay, the radiologist reads your report or your scan, the report shows up in your mychart and then you're like, I don't know what this says. So you go straight to Google, of course, and like, what does this mean? Or ask ChatGPT or whatever.

00:23:17:03 - 00:23:41:06
Unknown
But why is it important to for patients to wait and discuss those results with their primary care provider or whoever it was that ordered that test? So much more that goes into getting a diagnosis, whether it be the imaging, the lab work, the symptoms, the physical exam, and people forget that it's medical. You know, health care is all conclusive and it's not 100%.

00:23:41:07 - 00:24:07:04
Unknown
Nothing is. And so it takes all of those aspects of it to take care of people. And so I think that's kind of the biggest part of it is it takes everything that's just one piece. Again, you need that human element to break down that medical terminology. So it's relatable. Because we get those phone calls that my report says this and I just I need to be seeing somebody right now.

00:24:07:04 - 00:24:32:13
Unknown
And, you know, the the physicians are, are calling it with what it is, but it doesn't say, look, this isn't as bad as what it's perceived or what you think it is. So, that that's the biggest downside to getting the report and then going straight to Doctor Google and and trying to get an explanation. Be patient. Let the physician explain.

00:24:32:13 - 00:24:57:12
Unknown
And that's one thing that our patients need to understand is when you get that report, or even prior, if there's a negative finding that has a significant effect, you know, a negative, a negative, you're going to get called. Yeah, they're going to tell you as they go out, these physicians do not want to let you be out there with with something that could be life threatening and you not get Ahold of.

00:24:57:12 - 00:25:27:01
Unknown
And that's one thing that the patients don't see is the behind the scene work that our that our staff, our radiologists, our physicians are going through, just trying to get that patient either back in and say, hey, look, we need additional scans. And in those cases, no news is good news. Yeah. Exactly what I tell people. You know, when you're on a Friday afternoon, someone's having, you know, this super stressful, scary scan.

00:25:27:01 - 00:25:45:22
Unknown
And I'm like, listen, if there's something critical, someone's going to get in touch with you. They're not going to let you sit all weekend thinking that it's all over. Promise they will get in touch with you. I remember once I got an ultrasound for something else, and then the report said that there was a, you know, some millimeter non obstructive kidney stone.

00:25:45:23 - 00:26:06:07
Unknown
And I'm like, what has a kidney stone? And the doctor is like, it's really tiny. You don't even know unless you're having symptoms. You're fine. It's like oh okay. And that happens all the time. Incidental findings are all the time. That is why I stopped getting on the scans as a guinea pig when it happens, for sure all of the scan without them finding something.

00:26:06:08 - 00:26:21:16
Unknown
So. And you can. I thought when they were doing the implementation for the new scan, they were looking for people to like this and I'm like, oh, you might not want to look, you know, like you don't know what, you don't want to find something else. He's like, I'm not getting on there. He was like, I know what happens.

00:26:21:18 - 00:26:48:17
Unknown
Nope. No, we're not doing it. We're not starting that. You're very rarely could pull a person off the street and scan them and not find something or some type of pathology in there. Yeah. I never thought about y'all being the guinea pigs to test out the machine. Yeah, I tell you, when it comes to MRI, I'm like, you have it's kind of like, you know, you have to go through it so that you know what, your patients go, you know, you you have to know what it feels like so you can coach them through it.

00:26:48:18 - 00:27:15:00
Unknown
That's a good point. Are there any myths that you hear all the time about, imaging or tests, scans that you want to address? You'll glow in the dark after enough x rays? Okay. Yeah. There's a lot of fear on the, you know, on the radiation side of things. And we're taught from, from day one, it's actually 101 is radiation safety.

00:27:15:02 - 00:27:40:00
Unknown
And and what patients don't understand is that the, the radiation that, that we're administering, is, is, is minimal. You're going to get more radiation in a day at the beach than you would through a chest X-ray or something like that. Now, we do have some scans that are, you know, more invasive, that require a higher dose of radiation.

00:27:40:00 - 00:28:16:20
Unknown
But that's where you start discussing what the the cost versus benefit is there. And most of the time life threatening to the point, hey, I'm not worried about this radiation. And patients don't realize we have application or software in place. Each patient coming through their their radiation dose is recorded. So it goes in their file. And if there is any, if there's any radiation that goes over the level that we have set, then where to review it, we're talking it with the radiologist, but we've never had any.

00:28:16:21 - 00:28:33:07
Unknown
That is to the point of, of a patient does this of any concern. Most of the concern is for the staff. Yeah. I was just about to say what kind of precautions do you take as staff when you're the one that's exposed to it every day on your job? So we're in the dosimeter badges is what we have.

00:28:33:08 - 00:29:02:22
Unknown
We're allowed five milligrams per year. I've, I've been, you know, in the field for, for 20 plus years. I don't know anybody that that has gotten that much. We practice the three. I mean, it is our three golden rules within radiation time, distance, shielding time being the amount of time that you're on the foot pedal or on the rotor switch, administering the radiation distance is backing away from the source of the radiation.

00:29:02:22 - 00:29:41:03
Unknown
And then shielding, of course, is using lead and shielding in front of you between the, between the stores. So, we keep those everything is monitored. Everything is reviewed on a daily. Well, I say daily we do on some areas review these. But for the most part we get our monthly reports, we go through them. And if there's any significant dose to one of our patients, patients or employees, we get a report so monitored all the little mechanisms that are put in place to keep people safe on the back end and stuff you never think about.

00:29:41:03 - 00:30:16:13
Unknown
But it is reassuring to know that you have that and that you are monitoring that. Yeah. What would you say? I know we don't have much more time, but for anyone looking to go into a career in imaging, any kind of advice or possibilities are endless. Yes, you can start. And the good thing about George is you can start an x ray, get that foundation, and then there's opportunities in CT, you know, cath lab master and just so many other parts of the hospital that you never knew were an option until you kind of get in here and get into the nuts and crannies of the facility and see where all you can go.

00:30:16:14 - 00:30:35:11
Unknown
I mean, you might figure out the O.R. is where you want to be. You don't want to be a scrub tech, but you, like, work in the CRM. So there's so many different things that you can do with it, and you can change it up in surgery right in the bar. I mean, that's you don't typically think about having those big machines in there, but they are and they use those.

00:30:35:12 - 00:31:03:21
Unknown
And so anything from the outpatient to how long do you have to go to school for that? Is it two years? Yeah. So it's been reduced. I think it's down to seven quarters right now. Okay. That's after you have your, your prerequisites. So seven quarters within the program that, that you're allowed, allowed to take the board at that point, you're going to come in and begin your career within x ray as we know it, playing film.

00:31:03:23 - 00:31:27:21
Unknown
And then we can then, you know, work with the staff as far as where their interest are and going into cross-training into another modality. But the advancement in pay in the last 20 years has just been phenomenal. Yeah. And you will always have a job. You do you anywhere. And I mean, I'm a perfect example. I started out as a tech assistant.


Going through school in a very short time was before even graduating from school was, was, you know, doing the responsibilities of what a tech is and then just work my way up into administration, you know, started out as a supervisor, a chief manager and now director. So again, it's like he said, it's endless. And with our aging population and then we're not really getting healthier as a society.

00:31:57:20 - 00:32:21:05
Unknown
So, the demand is there. We have to have we can only do so many images, but we've got to have the people that are. That's correct doing them, because again, we don't have robots to do that. So we don't want them. We want well, thank you all so much for joining us today. Thank you. Yes, we really appreciate it for allowing us to promote imaging.

00:32:21:07 - 00:32:26:07
Unknown
All right. Well, thank you all for tuning in. If you haven't already, please like and subscribe.