Who interpreted your ultrasound - Radiologist or Technician?

[birdbath]

Hi cyst-ers,

I'm hoping someone can give me a little insight to this. My Dr.'s office called today and had me reschedule my follow up ultrasound. They told me that the technician (the one that I loved - very smart and very, very communicative!) left the Dr.'s practice. AARRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! They wanted to schedule it for mid-April or so.
I would usually say "Oh, that's OK - don't worry about it" or "Sure, whatever makes it easier". I listened in surprise as I heard myself saying " NO, that is absolutely not going to work. You need to find a way to get me in BEFORE my doctor's appt on the 27th and the Oncologist on the 29th. And if you can't do it, I will go somewhere else that can." Unbelievable. I feel like my evil twin or something. Crazy stuff. Anyway, they got me booked in for an appointment just a half an hour before I am supposed to see the other doctor there on the 27th. I told the receptionist/nurse/poor soul who was dealing with me that it was doubtful if the radiologist could read the ultrasound and do a report in just 30 minutes. She told me that they didn't use a radiologist - the tech writes down what they see and the doctor interprets it. Is this normal? I thought a radiologist had reviewed my ultrasound, considering it had so many strange things on it. I know my doctor is an M.D., but are they still as qualifed to recognize things on ultrasound like a radiologist would? Don't they need specialized training in order to be as skilled at interpreting it? I'd just feel better if a REAL radiologist had read it. Any thoughts on this?
Robin

[abc888]

Hi, Robin. You are a smart patient in that most patients would never question their doctors even when they are misdiagnosised.
As a matter of fact, ultrasound diagnosis is not very reliable if the person who interprets the data collected from the probe is not qualified to make the diagnosis, including M.D.'s. At present, two thirds of the ultrasound "technicians" are not properly registered or without proper training and required credentials.  There are no regulation on the books to require that all technicians and doctors who interpret ultrasound data to undergo proper training and obtain proper credentials. In reality, the education background of the ultrasound technicians range from high school to MD with trainings from one month to four years. So the knowledge and educational levels of the ultrasound technicians mean a big difference. Someone before already mentioned that ultrasound is very operator-dependent. The technician is a key person who must detect the pathology. Think about it: if the technician doesn't have enough knowledge, it is impossible to obtain the right information for the reading doctor. In addition, a lot of reading doctors just read the result superficially and sign on it because it is hard to make diagnosis without observing the dynamic images and the operation of the ultrasound machine. So they had to believe the technicans' readings.
One thing is clear: to be a patient, it is very important to know your technicans' credentials and their medical background.

abc

[dum]

Hi, just want to say thank you to all of you who have the knowledge for providing the insight how things work re u/s. We really need to know that. Apparently the techinician is the most important since everything proceed from that point on.  I assume they go to medical college? :)

[Tropic]

Hi all! Actually ultrasound is very operator dependent. That is, if the technician fails to detect the pathology, the radiologist, who is going to write the report, would not be able to see the pathology as well since the pathology wasn't recorded and documented. The workflow is as follows: the technician documents everything, normal or not, as images and sends them to the radiologist through computer. the technician then writes a simple report recording what they see and measured. After that, the report will be passed on to the radiologist who will compare the images with the report. Amendments will be done if the radiologist disagrees with the report or if he has something to add on. So i should say, the detection of pathologies is the combined effort of both the technician and the radiologist. Hope this is useful to you!

[NikkiPoo]

My doctor did the ultrasound & never sent it to anyone else to look at and I was not comfortable any of the 3 times because he didn't seem to really know what he was doing (he couldn't find my left ovary at first on the 2nd ultrasound). It just really seemed like he didn't know what he was doing, anyone can insert the prob thingy but to know what they are looking at would take alot of training; at least thats what I think.  I am going to make sure that my next doctor sends me to a qualified exray tech. :)

[xrayu2]

Only a radiologist or sonologist can read an ultrasound.  The tech may know what they see but can never give a diagnosis.  Agood tech is vital to your scan, though.  An u/s is only as good as your tech is. they can manipulate things to make them appear or disappear.  Good luck!!

[Spicegirl]

Robin - Yahoo for you for holding your ground - I find you to be an amazing woman - an inspiration to all of us - you go girl and if you're not comfortable I know you will push until you get the answers - Good luck.  Spice

[Gatsby]

You go girl.  We all need a lesson from you.  We cannot be passive about our health anylonger.  It's a shame, but a gals gotta do what a gals gotta do!  Godspeed
~Tascha

[dian07]

Hey there....I wouldn't worry too much about who is reading your ultra sound.  In the end, rest assured , a radiologist will read the films, and, if there is something else found you will be told.  You think there is anyone (who might make some money off you and your tests)who would pass up that opportunity?  As a matter of fact, upon review of my insurance's payments to the hospitals and doctors, I see there are usually two radiologists involved!
The first one to tell me I had ovarian cancer was my gyno....he has had enough experience to recognize something that is rare (remember...only 1%) but so wrong...anyway, why don't you just ask who reads your films...who writes the report.....how much experience does he/she have?  I had one ultrasound run twice in the same hour by two different techs...the radiologist wanted the opinion of the second tech....go figure!
I hope that gives you fodder for thought.
Peace ladies!

[greenThumbs]

Hmmm.  Just looked at my report and I am assuming it was written by a Radiologist.  They have an M.D after their name.  I would tend to think that a Radiologist would be more "qualified".