What Is A Kidney Ultrasound Performed By Barbara Jimenez

Submitted By jmorenov
Words: 761
Pages: 4

Activity
The activity I chose is a kidney ultrasound performed by Barbara Jimenez, RDMS.

Photo #1 Description
In this photo, Barbara is looking at the top and bottom screens. She is pulling up the patient’s chart on the top screen. In the photo, all the fields appear blank and they are. Under HIPPA regulations I am not able to photograph a patient’s chart. Furthermore, she is making sure that her settings are in order in the bottom screen. The ultrasound machine itself is complex and has a lot of knobs and buttons. The picture shows a keyboard, a mouse pad, buttons, knobs and 2 screens. The gurney is to the right of Barbara and the only part that can be seen is the top of the gurney.

Photo #2 Description
This photo demonstrates Barbara at work. The lights are off and the ultrasound machine is lit up. The top screen demonstrates the part of the patient that is under investigation; in this case it’s the kidney. The image shown is black and white. On the left side of the top screen are markers to label what view she is currently in. On the right side of the screen, Barbara has more markers, however, these markers are used to make measurements, which can be seen in action when focusing at the middle of the top screen. A green line appears to be going across the screen. The bottom of the screen is a little blurry. Barbara’s hand is on the mouse pad. The top of the gurney can be seen to the right of the machine. Notice that Barbara is wearing a glove and a watch.

Analysis of Photo #1 and Photo #2
The first photo has a cognitive feature that isn’t mentioned in class, but that Hutchins mentions extensively in Cogs 101A. This feature is precomputation. Barbara does this in two ways: 1) by pulling up the patient’s chart and 2) checking her settings. Barbara is actually reducing the amount of work that is being done by redistributing the cognitive workload (Hutchins Cogs 101A Lecture, 10/19/13). Barbara checks the patients weight, medical history and setting. In doing this, she identifies what transducer to use in order to penetrate the organ under investigation. A heavier patient would require a stronger transducer. Furthermore, the medical history gives Barbara an idea of what she is looking for and what the doctor wants a picture of. In a way, her work is precomputation for the radiologist as he is the one who comes up with a diagnosis.
More relevant to the current class, an event being seen emerges through the interplay between a domain of scrutiny and a set of discursive practices (Goodwin, pg. 607). In this case, Barbara’s domain of scrutiny is the ultrasound machine and the patient in the gurney. In the pictures, the gurney lies to the right of the machine this makes it easier for Barbara to use the transducer in order to get good images of the organ under investigation. A set of discursive practices is deployed within a specific activity (Goodwin, pg 607). In the case of Barbara, her activity is to