Principles and Practice of Medicine - Essay Example

1059710 – ACTION PLAN REFLECTION In this part, I will talk about my plan to develop the focusing area of my weakness which is improving my knowledge in Pathology. It will include the dates of the studying, what I learned and how I can improve the knowledge from what I learned. 17/09/2013: I read ‘Pneumothorax chapter in principle and practice of medicine’. From the reading in the chapter, I learned the definition, types and the management of pneumothorax. This part of learning improves my knowledge of pneumothorax which can help me in developing the practice and management of the chest radiographic procedures with patient with pneumothorax and help me to provide good quality image of chest x-ray due to the pneumothorax condition. This area of knowledge acquired can really lead to the achievement of my personal goal to improve my knowledge in pathology. This is because as noted by the authors, the principles and management of pneumothrax form an important basis in the overall pathological pathway to radiography. References: Prasad, B., 1997. Principles and Practice of Medicine: A textbook for Students and practitioner. New Delhi: Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers, PP. 333 – 335. 18- 20/09/2013: I read ‘Asthma and COPD’ and I acquired a lot of information about these diseases and how they effect the lung. I also learned how can I provide the management of radiographic procedure and good quality images for patient with one of these diseases. After reading this book, my knowledge about Asthma and COPD is improving. I however think that this area alone cannot be an end in itself but a means to an end. This means that I need to expand my knowledge in other areas of radiography pathology in order to make the achievement of my personal goal realistic. The reason for this assertion is that the authors noted that asthma and COPD do not form part of the most reported cases and incidence that radiographers have to deal with. In effect, to have a full understanding of the pathology requires adding some more knowledge areas. References: BARNES, J., RENNARD, S.I. and THOMSON, N.C., 2009. Asthma and COPD: basic mechanism and clinical management. 2nd ed. London: imprint of Elsevier. 23 – 26/09/2013: I read ‘Diagnosis and Management of Bowel Disease’. From this, I acquired so much information about various bowel disease such as diarrhea, consitaption, irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease. This learning improved my knowledge of the bowel disease and helped me to improve the management of abdomen radiographic procedure due to patient condition and provide good quality images. The authors from whom I learnt this have noted that abdominal radiography is a very complex process that requires a lot of expanded knowledge base on the part of the radiographer. This means that there is shared responsibility for me to know much more about bowel diseases and other related pathological ideas about abdomen radiography. Consequently, this part of learning is useful in helping me achieve my overall goal. References: ENGSTROM, P.F. and GOOSENBERG, E.B., 2007. Diagnosis and management of bowel disease. 3rd ed. West Islip: Professional Communications, Inc. 1 – 4/10/2013: I read ‘Paediatric Fractures and Dislocations’ and I learned the mechanism of fracture and how I can manage the paediatric patient who has fracture during the radiographic procedure and modify the technique of the imaging procedure to provide good quality diagnostic images. This aspect of learning was of high importance to me as paediatric radiography remains one of the most discussed areas in radiography procedures. For most of the time, the requirements here are totally different from undertaking radiography in normal adults. It is for this reason that I paid particular attention to this area of study. References: LAER, L.V., 2001. Pediatric Fractures and Dislocations. 4th ed. Stuttgart: Georg Thieme Verlag. 16 – 19/10/2013: I read ‘Fractures of the upper limb’ and I understood more about the mechanism of fracture which help me to improve my knowledge about the fractures of upper limb. I also improved my knowledge on the quality of diagnostic images by modifying the techniques due to the patient’s fracture type, which can improve the treatment of patient’s fracture. I however feel that this area is not directly related to my goal of learning about pathology. This is because this area of learning did not deal directly with the examination of the upper limb as an organ but on how to perfect radiographic imaging in this section. Meanwhile, pathology focuses directly on the examination of the organs themselves in order to make decisions on diagnosis and treatment. References: ZIRAN, B.H. and SMITH, W.R., 2004. Fractures of the upper extremity. New York: Marcel Dekker, Inc. 25 – 26/11/2013: I read ‘Radiological atlas of child abuse’. From this reading, I learned the importance of skeletal procedure to diagnosis of children due to the abuse. I learned from this book how the skeletal survey is important in case of child abuse. The book also equipped me in learning about how I can manage the behaviour of the abused child during the imaging procedure and how I modify the radiographic techniques due to the patient condition which will be useful in providing good quality diagnostic images. This particular aspect of learning was two-way beneficial. This is because as much as it helped me in learning about pathology, it also offered me the opportunity of learning about the how to deal with this unique case of abused children. What made this learning extremely important for me is that it offered me the opportunity to realise the fact my professional practice also had some levels of humanitarian responsibility such as the care given to abused children. References: OFFIAH, A.C. and HALL, C.M., 2009. Radiological Atlas of Child Abuse. Oxon: Radcliffe Publishing Ltd. 16 – 22/12/2013: I read ‘Forensic Medicine of the Lower Extremity’ and it helped me to understand more about the mechanism of fracture and the deformity resulting from the fracture in the lower limb anatomy. This area of study was directly linked to anatomy and for that matter pathology. What is more, this knowledge helped me to improve the quality of images taken by me and make the image more diagnostic. References: RICH, J., DEAN, D.E. and POWRS, R.H., 2005. Forensic Medicine of the Lower Extremity. New Jersey: Humana Press Inc. 24 – 26/01/2014: I read ‘Facial, Orbital and Mandibular fractures’ chapter and I learned the definition, types and the management of these fracture which improve my knowledge of the facial fractures and help me in developing the practice and management of the child patients due to these fracture case. What was unique about this learning was that it offered me the opportunity of knowing about how to apply different strategies to different people, namely children and adult, suffering from the same problem. This improvement of knowledge will advance the quality of images by reducing the movement artefact as I learned how to manage the child patient in the fracture cases. Quite importantly, this area of learning is directly linked to anatomy and thus helpful in enabling me achieve my overall goal. References: SWISCHUK, L.E., 2000. Emergency Imaging of the Acutely Ill Or Injured Child. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. 7 – 10/02/2014: I read ‘preventing disease transmission’ chapter and I learned the definition, types and the management of transmission of these diseases. I also learned the importance of Hand Hygiene in preventing the transmission of these diseases. This was about the most important area of learning as far as pathology is concerned. This is because from this knowledge, I can improve the prevention of disease transmission and improve the quality of patient care services. As far as achievability is concerned, this is a very important area for helping me achieve my goal in learning about my weakness in pathology. References: EHRLICH, R.A. and Coakes, D.M., 2013. Patient Care in Radiography: With an Introduction to Medical Imaging. Missouri: Mosby, an imprint of Elsevier Inc. 5 – 9/03/2014: I read ‘Imaging in spinal trauma’ chapter and I learned the importance of imaging in case of trauma in spine I also focused on the management and dealing with trauma patients who have fractures or any pathology in the part of spine. From this knowledge, I can improve the quality of images and make it more diagnosis by modifying the imaging technique due to patient’s condition. References: BRUMMETT, R. and RUSHTON, S.,2003. Imaging in Spinal Trauma. In: Fractures of the Cervical, Thoracic, and Lumbar Spine. New York: Marcel Dekker, Inc. 28 – 30 /03/2014: I read ‘chest x-ray abnormalities’ and I learned the effect of these in abnormalities in chest x-ray and how it will show in the x-ray image. I also learned how can I modify the exposure due to the abnormalities appearance if it was known before and follow up procedure and this modifying will be useful in reduce radiation dose to the patients and improve the quality of the image. References: RADIOLOGY MASTER CLASS, 2014. Chest X-rays abnormalities [online]. [view 30/03/2014]. Available from: http://radiologymasterclass.co.uk/tutorials/chest/chest_pathology/chest_pathology_start.html Overall, the action plan based on self learning has been very useful in helping me acknowledge specific areas of my weaknesses, finding the right materials that contain solutions to my weaknesses, and rightly applying the materials to my knowledge base. The plan is certainly in the right direction for helping me achieve my goal. What is more refreshing is the fact that note only have expanded my knowledge in pathology but that I have also come to learn about the humanity aspect of my profession. Henceforth, I see radiography as a calling with which I can help a lot of people to come out of their weaknesses and pain. Read More