TECH SEMINAR - Patient Safety & Implementing Hands-Free Radiology Techniques - September 13, 2023
Topics:
Patient Safety:
Our goal is always to provide compassionate and safe patient care. As human beings, mistakes do happen. These mistakes may cause adverse patient events, which can have long-term impacts not only on patients but also on the hospital team and hospital culture. To help reduce these events, patient safety should be evaluated using a systematic approach. By utilizing a process for reporting events, collaboration, case studies, and providing tools for analysis, teams can ultimately improve the culture of safety in the hospital. An intentional approach to patient safety allows the team to evaluate and review policies, processes, training, workflow, and communication to share ideas and strategies to improve the current systems, ways of working, and communicating.
Hands Free Radiology:
This lecture will discuss the importance of hands-free imaging in veterinary practices. We will talk through what hands-free imaging is, why it is so important, and how to transition a practice to becoming a hands-free imaging facility. Radiation safety for both the veterinary associate and the patient will be discussed and we will talk through the benefits of hands-free imaging from the client, patient & associate perspective. Necessary equipment, commonly asked questions, and ways to work around common roadblocks will be shared in this informative & interactive discussion-based lecture.
Speaker Bios:
Carolyn Spivock, RVT
Carolyn Spivock, RVT has been in the veterinary industry for over 20 years. She received her Bachelor’s in Animal and Poultry Science from Virginia Tech and her Associate of Applied Science – Veterinary Technology from the Community College of Baltimore County. Over her career, she has held roles in patient care, leadership, hospital management, and field and support office positions. She is currently the Director of Technician & Assistant Development in VCA’s Medical Operations Department. Carolyn’s passion is helping to create opportunities for continued growth in skills, knowledge, and leadership development for our Veterinary Technicians and Assistants with a special focus on patient and team safety.
Julie White, RVT, RT(R)
Julie White, RVT, RT(R) earned her Bachelor’s degree in Biology from St. Andrews University in 2007 and went on to receive her Associate’s degree in Veterinary Medical Technology from Central Carolina Community College in 2009. During her career 
as an RVT Julie worked in the small animal emergency service at NC State’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital and then moved to the oncology department at Veterinary Specialty Hospital of the Carolinas (now a BluePearl hospital). During her time with the radiation oncology team Julie became interested in diagnostic imaging and briefly left veterinary medicine to attend the Radiologic Sciences program at the UNC Chapel Hill School of Medicine. After graduating and becoming a boarded radiologic technologist in 2015, Julie returned to veterinary medicine as the radiology nursing supervisor & radiation safety officer for VSH/BluePearl NC. During her time there she helped their 3 North Carolina hospitals make the transition to hands free imaging. Julie is currently the practice manager at BluePearl in Cary, NC and has continued to be a passionate advocate for radiation safety in veterinary medicine.
