Jeff Anderson, professor emeritus for the Department of Respiratory Care, gave two presentations at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center on “Systematic Interpretation of Adult Intensive Care Unit Chest X-rays.” In these presentations Anderson explained the methodology behind interpreting chest x-rays and CT scans and combining the two for a deeper understanding of the clinical picture. Interpreting chest x-rays is an essential skill for the interprofessional healthcare team, which respiratory therapists play a vital role in when caring for critically ill patients.
Both presentations followed the interpretation guidelines that were part of the late Dr. Ron O’Reilly’s system for radiology. O’Reilly was a radiologist at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center and an adjunct instructor for both the Respiratory Care and Radiologic Sciences Departments at Boise State University.
Owen Seatz, current department manager and Scott Hawkins, clinical coordinator, both in the respiratory care department for Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center and both alumni of the Boise State Respiratory Care program, arranged for Anderson to give the presentations which were live streamed to 74 of the Trinity Health System hospitals, to which Saint Alphonsus belongs.
“These presentations give a great method to interpret radiographs and CT scans with a great degree of accuracy. The method that is discussed provides a systematic approach that keeps the interpreter actively looking at the entire image without focusing too much on the obvious problem and possibly missing others,” Hawkins said. “The CT scan comparisons help to show what can be hiding in a typical radiograph and give a better picture of additional problems as well. The presentation does a great job at teaching the anatomy of the normal human body structures within each image and what can happen when you have some difficult to identify disease processes.”