Your answer:
Obtain a stat portable cross table lateral cervical spine film
Incorrect answer.
The patient denies any neck pain or any trauma to suggest
cervical injury. Should the patient have arrived in a cervical
collar or had a history of possible neck trauma, a cervical spine
x-ray would be justified.
The portable x-ray unit arrives. A sheet of white herculite is rolled into the room and the x-ray machine enters the REA on the clean pathway. The technologist hands a cassette covered in a plastic bag to one of the nurses in the room who positions it with the guidance of the technologist. The x-ray is taken and the cassette is handed back to the technologist. The nurse keeps the plastic bag while the technologist grabs only the cassette. Before leaving the area, the radiation technologist checks the wheels of the x-ray machine and the cassette for the presence of contamination.
The x-ray is developed and interpreted as normal.