Emergency radiology is a sub-specialty of radiology that primarily focuses on diagnosing acute illnesses and injuries of emergency room (ER) patients. This relatively new specialty greatly increases the care and treatment of patients and boosts the quality of emergency medicine as a whole.
Function
Emergency radiology refers to medical imaging (X-rays, sonograms, MRIs, CT scans) taken and interpreted in an emergency room. Emergency radiologists help diagnose sudden illnesses and injuries, such as appendicitis and gunshot wounds. Along with emergency physicians, emergency radiologists also help treat these patients. Like emergency physicians, emergency radiologists work whenever an ER is open, meaning 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including weekends and holidays.
Significance
Since the 1990s, emergency radiology has become a specialty in the wider field of radiology. Many hospitals currently offer fellowships specifically in emergency radiology to not only grant a radiologist the emergency radiology specialty to his curriculum vitae, but also to strengthen the skills needed for effective emergency medical imaging interpretation. With this creation of a radiology specialty, patients can expect and receive better care and treatment when visiting the emergency room. (But patients should not expect less time in the waiting room.)
Benefits
By having radiologists who practice nothing but emergency radiology, the ER will have a higher quality of radiologic interpretation and diagnosis. This benefits the hospital as well as the patient. With a higher quality of care, hospitals potentially have fewer missed diagnoses. Emergency physicians have better assistance treating patients. Malpractice lawsuits potentially decrease. Everyone wins, especially the patient.
Misconceptions
As stated earlier, the primary job of the emergency radiologist is to diagnose a patient's acute illness or injury. Therefore, these radiologists read radiographs for signs of the possible illnesses or injuries based on the patient's symptoms. If a patient comes into an ER from a car accident, the corresponding radiologist looks for bone fractures and organ damage from the collision. He will not look for every and all possible signs of an illness for this patient. That is not to say that he may not catch a sign of possible lung cancer, but he won't be looking for lung cancer in every chest X-ray he reads, and should not be expected to do so unless the patient is exhibiting and complaining of these types of symptoms.
Risk Factors
As with any radiograph, there is always a risk of radiation exposure. The exposure is very small with every image taken, but over time, if a patient has had an exponential amount of films taken, the patient may want to discuss the potential risk with the doctor ordering the radiology. It's always a good idea to take note of every X-ray or other film taken, just to be aware of the amount of radiation exposure. However, pregnant women should be doubly cautious about having X-rays taken. With the radiation exposure of an X-ray, there is a risk of fetal illness or injury. Sometimes the diagnosis from an X-ray will outweigh the risk, but it's always very important to let your doctor or radiologist know that you are pregnant.
Tags: emergency room, illnesses injuries, radiation exposure, care treatment, emergency physicians