Chest X Ray. A Useful tool for the nurse
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García-Velasco Sánchez-Morago S. La radiografía de tórax. Una herramienta útil para la enfermera. Metas de Enferm sep 2005; 8(7): 57-63
Authors
Santiago García-Velasco Sánchez-Morago
Position
Diplomado en Enfermería. Servicio de Medicina Intensiva. Hospital de Alarcos de Ciudad Real.
Contact address
C/ Capellán Marcelo Colino 5, casa 10. 13002 Ciudad Real.
Contact email: santgarc@telefonica.net
Abstract
The use of a chest X ray as an additional diagnostic tool provides useful information to establish a medical diagnosis but it can also be useful for the nurse to make decisions regarding nursing care. The use of this information, together with the rest of data that are constantly being collected about the patient status, allows the nurse to recognise important signs concerning the current clinical condition of the patient and to decide on the most adequate nursing interventions accordingly.
In Critical Patients Units, the chest X ray is used for the diagnosis, evaluation of response to treatment, and visualisation of the correct placement of tubes and catheters. Because of this, critical care nurses are highly familiar with this tool. The development of skills in the interpretation of the skills obtained in the X ray can improve the nurse´s ability to obtain the most relevant information of the patient.
This article describes the basic concepts of how X rays work, the characteristics that a chest X ray should have, a guide of systematic visualisation, and the alterations related with the most frequent lung pathologies as well as with the correct localisation of tubes and catheters.
Keywords:
chext X-ray; lung patholology; endotracheal tube; central cathetercritical patient
Versión en Español
Título:
La radiografía de tórax. Una herramienta útil para la enfermera