Preliminary Steps in Radiography

VOCABULARY flashcards covering the professional standards, technical factors, and ethical considerations of radiography as presented in Chapter 1.

Radiologic technology

A health care profession that includes all diagnostic imaging technologists and radiation therapists.

Radiographer

A radiologic technologist who administers ionizing radiation to perform radiographic procedures, requiring technical skills and knowledge of physics, anatomy, physiology, and pathology.

ASRT

American Society of Radiologic Technologists; the organization that writes and maintains the Radiography Practice Standards.

Radiography Practice Standards

Documents that define the practice of radiography, describe necessary education and certification, and include the Radiographer Scope of Practice.

Ethics

Defined as the profession’s moral responsibility and the science of appropriate conduct toward others.

ARRT

American Registry of Radiologic Technologists; the organization that created and maintains the Standards of Ethics for RTs.

Standards of Ethics

A document created by the ARRT that includes a Code of Ethics with $10$ statements and the Rules of Ethics consisting of $22$ rules.

Radiologist assistant (RA)

A title used to designate radiographers who provide advanced imaging services after passing an advanced-level certification examination.

Standard precautions

CDC directives for infection control including hand hygiene, the use of personal protective equipment ($PPE$), and respiratory hygiene.

Hand hygiene

The easiest and most convenient method of preventing the spread of microorganisms; must be performed before and after working with each patient.

Involuntary motion

Motion caused by heartbeat, chills, peristalsis, tremor, spasm, or pain; it is primarily controlled using a short exposure time.

Voluntary motion

Motion caused by nervousness, discomfort, fear, age, or breathing; it can be controlled by giving clear instructions or applying immobilization.

Image receptor (IR)

The device that receives the energy of the x-ray beam and forms the image of the body part.

Technique charts

Charts kept in every room and on mobile machines that specify projections and include exposure factors like $mAs$ and $kVp$.

Gonad shielding

Shielding used when the gonads lie within or close to (about $5,cm$) the primary x-ray field and reproductive potential is reasonable.

Central ray (CR)

The central or principal beam of rays, which is always centered to the $IR$ and generally intended to be perpendicular to the part to minimize distortion.

Source-to-image receptor distance (SID)

The distance from the anode inside the x-ray tube (source) to the $IR$, which affects magnification, spatial resolution, and patient dose.

Collimation

The restriction of the radiation field to only the anatomy of interest, which minimizes patient exposure and reduces scatter radiation.

Shuttering

A software feature of digital radiography used for image display aesthetics to provide a black background around a collimated exposure field.

Radiograph

The image recorded by exposing any of the image receptors to x-rays, used to assist in the diagnosis and treatment of the patient.

Obesity

Defined as an increase in body weight by an excessive accumulation of fat, typically measured by a body mass index ($BMI$) of $30$ to $39.9$.

Morbidly obese

A classification for patients with a body mass index ($BMI$) of $40+$; landmarks like the pubic symphysis are located using measurements based on patient height.