Echo tip

[Karlynn]

I went in yesterday for my 6 mo. check up and annual echo. The echo tech was new to the office, but has a lot of experience. I made a comment to him about how he wasn't trying to dig the wand into my ribs. He said that the key to a no-pressure echo is using lots of gel. He said most techs make the mistake of not using a lot of gel so the patient doesn't have a mess to wipe off. But it's the gel that allows the echo "waves" to transmit to the heart well and get a good picture. He said the natural instinct for techs when they aren't getting a clear picture is to press harder. So he demonstrated for me by wiping off most of the gel and showing me what the picture looked like and then he put a lot of gel on again and showed me a much clearer picture.

So tell your echo techs to "gel up" if you find they are doing a lot of pressing.

I'm waiting on the official report, but I am somewhat hopeful. I mentioned my mild aortic leak from last year. So he showed me my aortic valve and the leak and said "Oh, that's not much at all."

 

[Marguerite53]

great tip!

great tip!

Karlynn.

Nothing better than a helpful tech!! Great advice. I wondered the same thing, too. Went home bruised and achey once from too much pressure, but that was the unusual one. Didn't pay attention to the Gel Level! I will from now on....

Glad the tech's comment was positive. Hope the report is also excellent. Good luck!

Marguerite

 

[tobagotwo]

The bruises in my chest thank you.

My tech digs in all the time for a better view, as hard as she can. Sometimes she leans her whole body into it, and then apologizes. Leaves bruises that last for days. ...And I'm not on Coumadin.

I'll try the gel suggestion on her next time. Thank you for this.

Best wishes,

 

[breakingwaves]

Karlynn

Karlynn

Thanks for the tip, now if I could figure a way for the tech to listen, sometimes I think the hug and the pressure are so great, we must have become related while doing the tests.

Often I am thinking that they must be thinking other stuff while doing it, such as an argument with their significant other, trouble with their checking account, they press so hard. I always try to get some information too and I must not have the right way of asking, because they always are evasive and say your doctor will have the results.

 

[Harpoon]

Oh cool!!! =)

My tech (I almost always see the same woman when I get an echo at my cardiologist's office) always presses in hard which is funny now because my sternum is still "tender" in some spots even nearly two years post-surgery.

I'll have to mention it to her.


I've been "absently" thumbing through various sites on echocardiography and the training required for it as of late. Was thinking of actually looking into getting the training and certification for it (kind of a hard left turn from what I do now, though it's still "photography" in some sense) and have been picking up a lot of little tid-bits here and there...

Good stuff.

 

[breakingwaves]

harpoon

harpoon

I seem to get my echos here, there and everywhere, they have one particular hospital connected site that the techs change every time. I think it would be a good job if you like people, for one who get really physically close to them, and two, you get people with all kinds of stress levels, which having had the experience of going through this would be an asset.

 

[Abbanabba]

I must have been blessed with techs who've known what they've been doing, because I've never really had any problems in that regard. I've just always been sure to take a pack of "wet-wipes" with me for after they've "slimed" me - they seem to help clean things off better than a handful of tissues or a dry towel.

A : )