Diagnostic Careers & Roles
This is the job title of the person who specializes in drawing your blood for lab tests.
What is a Phlebotomist
This therapist helps patients walk, move, and regain strength after a major injury or surgery.
What is a Physical Therapist
This common diagnostic tool uses X-rays to create detailed, cross-sectional views or "slices" of the body.
What is a CT Scan
This foundational diagnostic skill involves measuring a patient's temperature, pulse, respirations, and blood pressure.
What are Vital Signs
This is the digital file on a computer where a hospital stores a patient's entire medical history.
What is an Electronic Health Record
This healthcare worker uses an ultrasound machine to look at babies or internal organs.
What is a Sonographer
This therapist helps patients relearn how to do everyday tasks like brushing their teeth, getting dressed, or feeding themselves.
What is an Occupational Therapist
This therapeutic device uses electrical impulses to help the heart maintain a normal, rhythmic beat.
What is a Pacemaker
This is the medical tool for listening to a patient's heart or lungs.
What is a stethoscope
This is the main reason the patient came to the clinic, usually written down in the patient's own words
What is the Chief Complaint
A professional in this career path operates the equipment used to record the electrical activity of the heart over a period of time.
What is an ECG/EKG Technician
This specialist helps patients who have trouble breathing, often working with asthma patients or ventilators.
What is a Respiratory Therapist
This diagnostic imaging technique utilizes powerful magnetic fields and radio waves to produce detailed images of soft tissues without using radiation.
What is an MRI
This basic hygiene procedure is the single most important skill a healthcare worker can do to prevent the spread of germs and infections in a hospital.
What is Handwashing
This common 4-letter medical note format splits up info into Subjective, Objective, Assessment, and Plan.
What is a SOAP note
This advanced laboratory professional examines tissue samples and performs complex tests to help pathologists diagnose diseases like cancer.
What is a Histotechnologist or Medical Laboratory Scientist
This professional fills your prescriptions and makes sure your medicine is safe to take.
What is a Pharmacist
When a patient's kidneys fail, they sit hooked up to this machine to clean and filter their blood.
What is a Dialysis Machine
To make sure crutches or a walker are safe and comfortable, a physical therapy assistant will perform this procedure to match the equipment to the patient's height.
What is Fitting Assistive Devices
If a doctor writes "PRN" next to a pain medication order, it means the nurse should give it to the patient only when this happens.
What is "As needed"
Unlike an Optometrist, this medical doctor specializes in the total care of the eyes, including performing complex surgeries.
What is an Ophthalmologist
This person works in the operating room, sets up sterile tools, and hands clamps or scalpels to the surgeon.
What is a Surgical Technologist
This diagnostic tool measures a patient's brainwave activity and is frequently used to evaluate sleep disorders or epilepsy.
What is an EEG
Before a doctor can give a patient a specific antibiotic, a lab tech will grow bacteria from a patient's swab in a petri dish to see exactly what germ is causing the sickness.
What is a Culture and Sensitivity Test
This 4-letter acronym is a checklist used by nurses to pass clear patient info to the next shift so no secrets get missed.
What is SBAR