What to read (continued):
- Should I read CT/MRIs?
- generally until 9.30 - 10 pm, you focus on plain films and US and the cross-sectional attending reads those studies
- after 10 pm, you read all modalities
- anything left from the day (eg. MRI liver elastography awaiting 3D lab) gets left until the next day
- Should I read the daily ICU plain films?
- Yes, but depending on how busy it is you may not get through all of them and the day people will read the rest
- Try to check all of them to make sure nothing is grossly abnormal (tension pneumothorax, new abnormally positioned ETT etc.). If these are spotted, you should dictate that study and inform the referring team, documenting that you did so. Let the attending you dictated this study with know that it is in draft status so they can sign it before they leave (overnight attending) or sign it off first thing (7 am morning staff)
- Who reads neuro MRI?
- the neuro attending on call from home
- if it's an outside MRI submitted for review, you can use your judgement to decide if they need an attending read overnight
- Should I read morning head ultrasounds?
- if stable, ultrasound tech will leave for the daytime ultrasound team
- if new finding, you should dictate
- if ECMO patient, you should dictate