New Ultrasound Technique
This blog is now focused on laboratory specialties. This article is here for your information only, as jobs are longer provided for any radiation technician specialties.
There are two ways to administer anesthesia, the first is general anesthesia, which puts the patient completely under. The second is regional anesthesia, which is where only the part of the body being operated on is numbed. General anesthesia has a lot more complications associated with it, especially for obese people. On the other hand, regional anesthesia can be tricky to administer, because the anesthesiologist must inject the drug close to the nerve for it to be effective, but the nerve should not be punctured. Regional anesthesiology can be especially tricky in obese people because it is hard to figure out where the nerves are under a layer of fat.
Australian anesthesiologists have come up with a new way to more effectively anesthetize patients. They are using ultrasound to guide them in regional anesthesia. Ultrasonographers are able to scan the patients so that the doctors can see where the nerves are, even if the patient is obese. This way, the doctor and give the drug the best distance from the nerve as possible using ultrasound images as guides.
It has been estimated that this ultrasound technique could eliminate up to 40 percent of general anesthesia in favor of regional anesthesia. However, ultrasound has only been used in this way on about 1 percent of Australians at this point. Using ultrasound to give regional instead of general anesthesia is good for hospitals, because if a patient is given regional anesthesia using ultrasound instead of general anesthesia, then the patient can often leave the hospital sooner, freeing up space for the next patient.
This could make the need for ultrasonographers even greater. Also, ultrasonographers will have yet another option in which niche to choose.
Learn about hiring an ultrasonographer.
Souce:
- (2008 February, 17) Ultrasound may Guide Anaesthetists With Precision for Safer Surgery. General health News http://www.medindia.net/news/Ultrasound-may-Guide-Anaesthetists-With-Precision-for-Safer-Surgery-33109-1.htm
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