Star Wars Characters as Members of Your Radiology Team

If there’s one trend we’ve seen in recent years, it’s the importance of your radiology department working as a team to improve CT image quality and overall patient care. This collaboration shouldn’t stop there, either, but rather extend beyond the halls of your radiology department to include referring physicians, other departments within your hospital, etc. In healthcare as a whole, and particularly in medical imaging, there’s a growing need for increased interdepartmental communication and collaboration. In order to effectively improve patient care and reduce unnecessary imaging, it’s crucial that we all work together.

The first place to start and the easiest place to get buy-in for a more collaborative work process is within your radiology department. In your day-to-day experiences, it might not be as easy to see how very interlaced your team needs to become. To put this whole “CT as a Team Sport” concept into perspective for you, we drew some comparisons between your computed tomography radiology team and the most epic team in all of the galaxy.

Your Radiology Team as Star Wars Characters:

Radiology Residents: Finn

Finn is new to the team but has had years of intense training to get to this point, just like your #RadRes team members. Just as Finn chose to leave the First Order, your residents have made the challenging decision of choosing their specialty path. Now they must continue to follow their heart as they become even more powerful as future sub-specialists.

CT Technologists: Rey

Just like technologists, Rey is a jack of all trades but is at times underestimated in her field. In reality, however, Rey and technologists can be one of the most powerful members of the team. As she discovers that she has the power of the force, Rey is able to make a powerful impact on the quality of the Resistance mission. 

Nurses: Chewbacca

In radiology teams, a nurse is only necessary in more complicated situations but just like Chewbacca, they always step up to play an important role in care delivery. Not only are they highly experienced, but they also bring a level of support unparalleled by the rest of the group.

Medical Physicists: Princess Leia

If your radiology team also works closely with your radiation department, then you know that the physicists play a huge role in managing radiation dose. Just as physicists plan and ensure the safe use of radiation; Princess Leia serves as the Resistance Operations’ General, mapping out the attack of the Starkiller Base.

Radiologists: Luke Skywalker

Despite that he’s very rarely seen, Luke Skywalker is the driving force behind all of his teams’ efforts. (Pun intended.) Radiologists have the sole responsibility of diagnosing patients and honing their power, always learning new approaches and discovering things no one else notices. Also, as a Jedi, Luke’s Light Side of the Force aligns with calmness used for knowledge and defense, rather than attacking a problem. Radiologists must exhibit the same behavior to be successful in care delivery.

In computed tomography, cases are rarely simple and if collaborative efforts are an option, your team should always explore them. In order to effectively improve patient care and reduce unnecessary imaging it’s crucial that we all work together, and the easiest place to start implementing that change is within your radiology department.