CT Scan, MRI are two acronyms you as Health Information Management(HIM) / Medical Records(MR) practitioners have surely encountered in managing your medical records and radiology images.

I felt today I shall post on CT scan and MRI, in behalf of HIM/MR practitioners wanting to make the difference between merely executing and/or supervising basic routine functions of filing and retrieving radiology images as compared to HIM/MR practitioners who build on their knowledge base to be informed managers or able assistants.

Pals, I have had a real life experience when I had a fall, and had a MRI done on my right arm. I had no fractures but a muscle tear, which has since healed but I try not to strain my right arm.

I found a nice video (below) to share that explains all the different types of scans –  ultrasound, PET scan, CT scan and MRI. However, I queued up this video to begin at the point where it explains CT scans and MRIs, by editing the original video using a video editor (Avidemux 2.5.6), and set to play at the point where it explains MRIs  and CT scans.

The original video was made at the London Oncology Clinic, now known as Leaders in Oncology Care (www.theloc.com).

A CT – the acronym for Computerized Axial Tomography and a MRI – the acronym for Magnetic Resonance Imaging scans are different in the way they work, levels of harmful radiation, the equipment used, their cost and in the situations they are best suited for.

It’s scarring to get into a MRI scanner but usually a skilled operator is around to assure you. My experience was not so assuring as the operator did not explain things clearly. I was lucky as I was mentally prepared but imagine if it was a lay person or someone with a faint heart. I reprimanded politely to the head of the radiology department, as I think some standard operating procedures were compromised, from the viewpoint of a quality management person and certainly as an informed patient!

Dr. Maurice Slevin MD FRCP, Honorary Consultant Medical Oncologist Barts And The London NHS Trust
Image credit: The Times, United Kingdom

Video credit : The concept and script of this video were produced by Dr. Maurice Slevin, video production by Ted Mikulski and creation of scanners by Brenda Holder.