Chest X-Rays: You Don’t Have to Be a Radiologist

The basics of reading a chest x-ray is a skill that is undervalued and under-taught within the prehospital setting. As air medical providers we are often the "highest" level of care in the unit and need to be able to recognize and process all the data independently. With the quick availability of CXRs in the digital format, reading the data from the CXR is an essential part of the data for picking up and managing a patient.

In an interactive, whiteboard lecture, we will discuss and review: anatomy of the chest, contours of the CXR, the 5 steps to reading a CXR, and we will practice reviewing these as well. Essential normal anatomy and common pathology will also be reviewed.