Neonatal X-Ray Interpretation

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I'm hoping to get some insight from the experienced NICU nurses and NNPs out there.

I've never felt very strong when it comes to x-rays. I'm ok with the bare bones basics (ETT depth relative to carina, NG tube in the stomach, enormous pneumos), but I'd love to get better. Whenever I have time at work, I try to pull up images and compare them to the radiology reports, or talk through images with providers. I definitely plan to continue practicing at work, but I think it might be valuable to gain some foundational "textbook" knowledge, too. Merenstein and Gardner has a chapter of x-ray interpretation, which I'm going to attempt to read through (hopefully it won't be too dry).

Does anybody have recommendations for continuing ed modules or study materials? How did you become proficient?

My last unit had "x-ray rounds" every morning. All of the providers for the day sat at the charge station and went over the day's x-rays together as a group before rounds. Nurses were welcome to drop in; it was a really cool way to learn.

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Update: My dad is a radiologist (ironic, since I'm struggling with x-rays), and every year in November he attends this big conference by the Radiologic Society of North America (RSNA) in Chicago. He just told me that this year I can use his guest badge to attend some of the neonatal radiology sessions.

RSNA 2�17

I'm seriously so excited.

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If you haven't visited Radiopaedia yet, you might find that helpful.

Also, performing an internet search using "neonatal radiology tutorial sites" returned several sites, although I didn't visit any to see how specific they were to neonatal/pediatric radiographs.

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Just checked out radiopaedia and it looks like a pretty good resource !

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Specializes in NICU.

I have this textbook, but is a little bit pricey:

Radiological Imaging of the Neonatal Chest (Medical Radiology): 978354

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The NCC (the NICU certification body) just published a textbook on this precise topic, and I thought I'd share in case anybody else is interested:

Neonatal Imaging — National Certification Corporation

I know what I'm spending my continuing education 'allowance' on this year!

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I want this !

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