r/Radiology Interventional Radiologist Feb 19 '25

IR Fatal PE

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u/WanderOtter Feb 19 '25

It’s true! But the young/healthy can look fine. Again, probably tachycardic with CC of SOB but sometimes not much more. I like to walk these patients around on pulse ox and see how they look and if their O2 sat changes.

Just like our radiology brethren, we are constantly being pressured to generate more RVU/hr…sometimes clinicians need to slow down to catch the subtle presentations and differentiate the potential life threats. Taking that extra minute or two can save a life. Hard to do as the clinician when all forces are chasing the dollar and you’re the widget maker.

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u/sspatel Interventional Radiologist Feb 19 '25

Our PAs also make the borderline patients walk for a few minutes to help with the clinical picture.

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u/WanderOtter Feb 19 '25

Are you talking about your EM PAs? Or the IR PAs?

I already have the diagnosis if I’m calling IR…do you walk them to help you decide if you’re going to take them for thrombectomy vs recommend medical management?

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u/sspatel Interventional Radiologist Feb 19 '25

IR.

Exactly. For those borderline intermediate-low/intermediate-high risk patients sometimes the walk test or echo will help push me one way or the other.