From Phlebotomy to MRI Technologist

Welcome to another episode of "A Couple of Rad Techs Podcast." Today, we're joined by the remarkable Kwame Doss, affectionately known as MRI MAN, who will share his unique journey into the world of MRI technology. From his initial steps as a phlebotomist to becoming an influential MRI technologist, Kwame's path is not only inspiring but also a testament to the varied routes one can take into the healthcare field. Throughout this episode, we'll explore the challenges and rewards of working with MRI, discuss the physical demands of the job, and dive into how innovations like AI are shaping the future of medical imaging. Join us as we uncover the fascinating intersection of technology, healthcare, and personal growth through Kwame's experiences. Whether you're a tech enthusiast, a healthcare professional, or someone curious about medical imaging, this conversation is sure to provide valuable insights into the dynamic world of radiology.

______________________

Follow Chaundria here

                           ⬆️⬆️⬆️

Scrubmates here

15% OFF Use Code: radtechs
_______________
MRI, radiology, medical imaging, MRI technologist, MRI safety, medical assistant, phlebotomist, MRI pathways, medical profession, healthcare, MRI education, MRI career, anatomy, physiology, medical technology, MRI imaging, continuing education, MRI scanners, patient care, MRI coils, outpatient MRI, hospital MRI, MRI equipment, diagnostic imaging, MRI physics, MRI software, MRI training, MRI certification, MRI schools, MRI classes.

Transcript

0:00

Welcome to A Couple of Rad Techs podcast, where we bring you an inside look at the world of radiology from the unique perspective of a married couple of radiologic technologists. Together, we have over 30 years of experience in the field and are here to demystify the science of medical imaging. Radiology is the unsung hero of the medical field, providing doctors with crucial images and information that help diagnose and treat illnesses. Join us as we explore the latest techniques, technologies and innovations in radiology and discover the vital role we play in the healthcare industry. So come along for the ride as we share our passion for radiology as a married couple.

Chaundria: 0:38

Welcome to A Couple Of Rad Techs Podcast. I am Chaundria, your host for today's episode. And I have a special guest been trying to get him on for a long time. He's made time to come to our audience and talk about all things MRI and a little in between as well. Welcome Kwame to the podcast.

Kwame: 0:56

Thanks for having me. I'm excited to do this, excited to get that knowledge out, maybe help some people in this podcast.

Chaundria: 1:02

I think you come with a really good perspective of the field. That's why I was excited to get you on because everybody has a different pathway into the medical imaging profession. I think you stand out at the top of that for me, because when I got on social media, I never was really a social media person. I think I just had Facebook just for my family. After the pandemic, I really got on to social media a lot more, and your page and a couple other guys and one girl came up about radiology and I said, wow, I really like his YouTube page. It was informative, it was fun. It was very attractive to the eye. It brought people in and that's what I liked about it. I didn't really see anything out there that looks like it. Then I started listening to you and I said, wow, he has a different pathway into the profession, which I love to hear because when I got into the profession, 20+ years ago, many of the people that I was trained by actually came into radiology and medical imaging through the military. Today, we have all these schools out here now, but things were a lot different 20 years ago. I like to talk to people who have different pathways because you'd never know who's out there listening that says, my situation does not fit going to school for 4 years or going during daytime, maybe not even going for radiology. The beautiful thing about medical imaging is we have other pathways. Let's jump into it. What initially drew you to the field of MRI?

Kwame: 2:21

I was a phlebotomist first. For about five years and it was a phlebotomy and medical assistant program, which I kind of rolled into. I didn't really have much going on. My girlfriend, which is my wife now, she was going to school for phlebotomy and MA. I went with her. I was kind of just in the background, had no plans of signing up and the counselor is like, what are you doing right now? I was like, nothing really, I'm working at Target. He's like, why don't you do this program? It's like six, seven months and you'll be making more money than you're doing at Target. I was like I got to do something and I signed up with her and it turns out that it was really fascinating and interesting to study the anatomy and physiology. Learning about all the systems, digestive system, cardiac, all that was very interesting to me. I was loving it. I was having a good time and the class was really fun. Became a phlebotomist. Didn't want to do MA. I didn't want to be at the front desk filing. Worked at a plasma donation center in Van Nuys, California. It was an interesting place. Had a lot of fun there. Soon as I graduated from the phlebotomy program, I did have my son and year and a half, another kid on the way. This phlebotomy is not going to cut it. My teacher was always trying to push me to do x ray and I was like, all right, cool. I'll sign on to x ray. I was hanging out at a friend's house also phlebotomist. I was kind of unsure what to do, which way to go. His friend or cousin, he was a MRI technologist, he showed up and it was very cinematic. We were on his balcony. We're just hanging out and he rolled up in his BMW. And is looking fresh, came out with some Jordans, nice scrubs on, fade haircut, just looking clean. He's like, I'm an MRI tech and a little bit younger than me at the time. I was probably like 25 or 26. He looked in his early twenties. I was like, wow, this guy did it. Nothing against him, he didn't seem like he was the smartest person in the world.

Chaundria: 4:05

I'm glad you said that. I totally get what you're saying, because sometimes people feel like that's beyond what I can do. They feel like I can't ever do anything like that. That is why I say we need more people out there speaking about their experience and how they entered. It's not like you're putting him down or anything. You found him relatable. If my friend here can do it and he looks successful, I think I can do it too. It gives you confidence. I love that.

Kwame: 4:29

That's a better word for it, relatable. He's similar to me. Talks like me, interests and he influences me. There's this program, it's Casa Loma college. It's in Van Nuys, I work in Van Nuys. Everything was connecting right there. And he hyped me up. To be honest with you, I knew what x ray was, a little bit about MRI and CT, I didn't know a whole lot. I had a lot of questions. I really didn't know how it worked. I went to go check out that program. I work full time. I have kids. They're like, we have a Saturday program. You go Saturday and that's the core classes. You're there all day, six, seven hours. The rest is like online. I had a couple of college classes that I was taking prior and I was pretty good at going to school, I just didn't know what I wanted to do. I was taking random classes. I didn't have many credits or anything like that. I signed up, went to the orientation. What really sealed the deal, there was a lady there, she had this whole story of how she was a single mom, she had to walk to school in the snow, she was struggling, she went through all these trials and tribulations. I related to her because she had a kid and priorities. She still pushed through and she made it. She was a director of the school. Wow, this is cool. I was very nervous. I didn't know this is a two year program. This is going to be some real stuff. I haven't really locked down to school like that for a while. Two years and the loan. I was looking at the pictures in MRI. The imaging gets a lot of people. I've always been a tech kind of guy, love technology.

Chaundria: 5:47

Like you said earlier, this guy was relatable. I really appreciate you saying that because at first glance, people think, I can do that. They did that. Then when you got in school, you were like, This is serious. This is years long. How long have you been an MRI tech now?

Kwame: 6:00

Almost eight years, like seven and a half years.

Chaundria: 6:01

Would you not say you are still learning?

Kwame: 6:04

I feel like I don't know enough. Sometimes things happen and I'll work with like a newer guy and you know a lot of stuff. To be honest with you, I don't feel like I know anything. I try to read some stuff. It's like that for everybody. I walked into the rooms and they have a picture of a foot with all the anatomy labeled. It's so much information. We're always having to look things up.

Chaundria: 6:22

We really take seriously in radiology, our continued education. I think I started in MRI since 2006. I feel like I'm always learning, especially if I go from a different machine, I can scan on all the machines, but the software changes, then they start adding in cardiac. I did cardiac and CT, but MR is totally different. That's the beautiful thing about what we do. We have a very deceiving profession. People look at us and say, why are they paying them that much? We have to do a lot of stuff. My husband just started in MRI. He's like, this is mentally taxing. Sometimes it's physical too. People sleep on how physical MRI can be. I just came from the chiropractor today. Because we lift coils and I work at different places. One day I might be on a place where most of the coils are built in. The next day I'm at a place where the coils weigh probably half of me.

Kwame: 7:08

We have this old Phillips machine and I weighed all the coils. The heaviest one was 35 pounds and if you have 30 patients on that machine, you're moving coils 30 times. You're lifting weights all day and you're helping patients up. I've definitely been sore after work and hurt my shoulder, my back and then sometimes we sit a lot too. We got to do our stretches, your workouts. I think that's super key. The techs I've seen, the ones that have been doing it for 20 plus years, they are usually in really good shape.

Chaundria: 7:34

You have to, when I was in CT, I was moving all the time. I was moving stretchers. I felt like I got my workout at work. When I went over to MRI, you're right. I had to really be intentional about my workout. I do Pilates, I need to stretch more. We walk on a regular basis. We really are intentional with our workouts. Sedentary lifestyles and sitting for long days with MRI is very hard on the body. I'm glad we could agree on that. We really come back to the fact that we have a profession that is amazing, but physically and mentally is a taxing profession. Was it something specific about MRI besides just the beautiful images? Cause that imagery in MRI will get you. A beautiful 3T image of a pelvis will have you going that is just gorgeous. I want to do some vascular studies. Was it specific or a specific event that made you say, MRI?

Kwame: 8:21

It was like a whole checklist of things. The x ray program that I wanted to do, I had to be there four or five days a week, which was going to be like nearly impossible for me. I would say it's the importance of MRI. I'm not saying the other modalities are not. I used to play football, basketball, all the time you're on ESPN, they're like, they had the MRI, you always hear that. It's such a big deal to have a lot of responsibility, a lot of respect being an MRI tech and I like the respect of the profession. Just seeing the detail in the images. I like the way that they're getting paid starting off. I'm not going to lie. I knew some x ray techs in LA, they were getting paid really low. Maybe they weren't full licensed. Yeah, I was attracted to that right away.

Chaundria: 9:03

That's perfect. You said how the imaging is very amazing in MRI. People ask and wonder what's different from CT and MRI? They look the same. No, they don't. Totally different. They're used for different diagnosis. That's the beautiful thing about it. With MRI, you kind of know what you're going in and looking at, you're not searching to find what's going on with MRI. You know that this is what's going on. I know what I'm going in to look at and I zero in, in that area and I can change parameters based upon that patient to get the prettiest images that are diagnostic that helped that person come to either treatment or answer to what they've been dealing with. It's very rewarding. The beautiful thing about MRI is now they're moving it into the OR. I just took a course over the last week and the young lady was there, her department, they have an MRI machine in the OR. That is pretty neat. That's something I would love to do. Eight years of being an MRI tech, you give a good perspective as well. You're a husband, you're a father, you have your hobbies that you do. Tell us what's a regular day in the life for MRI man.

Kwame: 10:00

Great day would be getting up early. Probably around 4:30. Then I do jujitsu, 5:15, great group of guys. Get a good workout there. Come home. I actually been fasting. I only eat between 12 and 8. The only thing I can really do is drink electrolytes. Get ready for work. Head on out. I like to keep some weights in the MRI room. I'll lift some weights. Eat a good lunch. I like to meal prep. Good protein, some vegetables. A protein shake and healthy snacks. When I get home, I like to spend a little time with my kids. We'll shoot around, play some basketball. I have a younger son. He likes to jump on the trampoline. Take the dog for a walk. Try to get another workout in just lifting weights for like 30 minutes. Try to read a little book. Make dinner. That's a normal routine day for me.

Chaundria: 10:46

It sounds like radiology has afforded you a very comfortable life that allows you to do the things you love and that's to spend time with your family, also your hobbies. Everybody doesn't have that luxury. That's the one thing I appreciate about working in medical imaging and having a specialty as well. You form a variety of schedules. They may change, I work contract. That works for me. You probably got multiple shifts you can choose from. You painted a picture for everybody to see. You have just as many options for your schedule when you work in radiology. No matter what pathway you take.

Kwame: 11:15

Yeah, so many options. The only reason I'm doing this option right now is cause the situation I'm in, my wife's going to school. I adjusted to her schedule, trying to help her out. I can get three twelves. I can do five eights, I do four, ten hour days. I adjust my schedule. I don't try to find excuses, I don't have time to do anything. Planning your day out is the best way. That's what I usually do on my days off. I like to make lists. My main goal now is living the best healthiest lifestyle I could.

11:42

Are you looking for an easy way to incorporate more fruits and vegetables into your diet? Look no further than Juice Plus. Juice Plus offers a convenient solution to help you eat more plant based foods every day. Their fruit and vegetable capsules contain a blend of plant powders that provide essential nutrients, vitamins, and antioxidants from 30 different fruits, vegetables, and and berries. Whether you're a busy professional, a student on the go, or simply looking to make healthier choices, Juice Plus can help you get the daily nutrients you need to feel your best. And the best part is, Juice Plus is backed by extensive research, including numerous clinical studies that show the benefits of their products. Plus they're committed to sustainability and use only the highest quality ingredients. So if you're ready to start eating more plants without the hassle of chopping and cooking, give Juice Plus a try. And if you place your order through my personal link in the description, you're going to receive five tart cherry complete energy bars as a thank you. So go ahead and order your fruit and vegetable capsules today. Now let's get back to our regularly scheduled program.

Chaundria: 12:53

I told you my brother was a ex MMA fighter. He still trains like that. He doesn't fight anymore. He is in that lifestyle. We're both like that. I was very strict vegan. Nobody in my family is like this, except my father, me and my brother. I feel like in our profession, we see so much sickness and coworkers that don't take care of themselves. That was one of the reasons why I did this podcast and made it specific to coworkers in the field of medical imaging and patients, because I don't think in our profession, we talk enough to each other and network. There's so many options out there. And I love how you share your day to day life beyond the scanner. Because we do have lives. You have another business. We are very versatile people. I work with a girl now, she has a thriving soap business. Her soap business makes her more than what she does in radiology. My husband worked with another girl. She has her own wine distribution. She has a food truck that she sells her wine at and she partners with like big restaurants and she's a travel tech now. She's been doing it for 20 some years. We are some really smart people. I don't think we give ourselves enough credit. For me, it's all about relationships, that have gotten me as far as I've been able to get in the profession. That's one thing I advocate for among technologists is we got to support one another. There's no competition in here. We all have different skills, different levels of what we do. What's for us is for us. What's not is not. I don't care how bad you want it. But I believe in you get further by supporting other people and them supporting you as well. That's what I'm about on the social media because I have done what I want to do in radiology and it has afforded me a great lifestyle along with my husband as well. I come from a very good group of technologists that I have been blessed to be around for the last 20 years. We all became registered because several of us were having trouble passing our MR boards. One of us paid and we shared it with each other. We passed it around to each other. We made sure whether we knew the person or not, we just knew, you're having a hard time. This is what I use when I'm done with it, I'll pass it to you. The requirement was when you pass yours, you give it to somebody else in need. Don't charge them. I remember a lady called me cause I failed my MR registry. I don't even know who she is today. She heard through my coworkers that I didn't pass the registry. The second time I missed it by two or three points and this lady called me. This is how tight in medical imaging we can be and we should be. She called and said, there's a course coming this weekend. It costs a hundred dollars. Bill Faulkner is teaching it. He was at a time, one of the top MRI physics guy, the man is smart. He was coming to my alma mater, Emory University to teach this course. She was like, I got a seat for you if you want it. I heard you having trouble passing it. I think if you take this course, you'll pass it. I'm like, yeah, I'll pay the 100. Back then it was probably like a lot of money, but I paid it. When I sat through that class I was like, let me go sign up and take that test right now. I was ready to pass the registry. From then on, I paid it forward. She didn't have to do that for me. It's a small world in radiology. Some really good people in our profession. I know we could be, as strong as other medical boards. We can all get what we deserve. There's so much out there, we haven't even begun to scratch the surface. I think you coming on a podcast, sharing what you do in your podcast, MRI Man. If you haven't listened to it, it's a very good podcast. Kwame has his way of sharing more about the field, which is different from how I share. I think we need more perspectives. Then there are other podcasts out there as well that have their strengths and you can just build from there. I do want to close out and finish a little bit because I know the audience is really wanting to learn more, but tell everybody what you sell on your Etsy shop.

Kwame: 16:23

My store, MRI Man got some really cool badges. I got some shirts and stickers. All the stuff I designed, I got a few guys that helped me out. I put the ideas out there and they make that magic happen. I think it's cool because we didn't really have a whole lot of stickers or shirts that were actually made by techs. I know people try to take advantage of our field and slap some designs on there, but it could just be some random guy. Not trying to make a whole bunch of money, I was like, that'd be cool if we had something to represent. Nurses always have other cool stickers and stuff. I was looking for stickers and there wasn't a whole lot of options. I was like I got some ideas. I went from there. I was trying to figure out how to make the badges. I got some really cool designs. You guys got to go check that out.

Chaundria: 17:02

I have not seen designs out there like yours. You could tell it's custom. It's not just words. I find that when you have someone who has an understanding of medical imaging, what we do, it shows in the designs, in the product. Because you come from our world, you know what we need. It's like if you bought scrubs from an MRI tech, it's going to be different because MRI techs know we shouldn't have pockets because if you got pockets in your scrubs, you're going to take something in. Little things like that. That's why I say if made by technologists. It's very important to tell people and to support one another, if you can't buy, pass it on. We can support in many different ways. To be real with people everything's not hunky dory in life. I've had my troubles with coworkers. No job is going to be perfect. Manager is going to be perfect. No hours are going to be perfect. No pay is going to be and no patient. We're going to have some rough days. What are some of the rewards and challenges you have faced?

Kwame: 17:54

I'll start with the bad. Dealing with some of the doctors, they could be very rude and pushy. Especially working in a hospital and you got to understand there's a lot of patients that can be in critical condition and a doctor wants to get a test done. There's situations where you have like 10 orders backed up and then you get two stats come in from the ER and then got another doctor harassing you. When are you going to scan my patient? It's like a foot or something. Maybe they need surgery. You're like I'll get to them an hour. No, you need to do that right now. Then you got ICU calling you. That kind of stuff when it happens for the first time could make you stressed out or panic. Then you learn how to deal with these situations and you start to realize I'm just one person and you start to find how to navigate in that hospital. Every hospital is going to be a little different. I'll call the nurse supervisor and I'll call the hospitalist. I got two stats and I got a foot surgery. Who do you want me to do? I'll put it on them. You figure out situations like that and little headaches and don't take it too personal, keep cool, keep calm. Same time also stand up for yourself and be firm. Don't back down so easily to a doctor. If they know you're scared and weak, they're going to take advantage of you, but if you talk to them in a serious voice, you're going to be fine. They'll try to test you. You want to get along with everyone. You catch them in a hallway, Hey, how's it going? Try to make that little connection. You know what I mean? I try to be friendly with everyone. At the end of the day, we're trying to help the patient. The most rewarding things I've had is mostly in the outpatient center is when people come back and they're like, you found a mass in my grandma's brain and they took it out. She's good now. She's enjoying the holidays. And she's with our kids. And they'll bring us donuts. That's always rewarding seeing them come back doing better. I live in small town. I moved out of LA. I scanned the whole town. Everybody knows me. I have a good rep. It's crazy. Like I'll go get my cell phone fixed and say, Hey, you're the MRI guy. I go get a haircut. Oh, you scan my wife. It's cool to have that. They see you as a good guy and doing a lot for the community. I recently got a job somewhere else and everybody's devastated. It's always nice to see a familiar face when you're going somewhere like getting a scan, you're nervous, you're scared, but you meet me, a friendly face. I do miss working at the local outpatient center, which didn't work out financially with them in this situation, but that's very rewarding being able to help a large community, like that and see them around town.

Chaundria: 20:02

I think that's important to have those relationships with your patients. After all these years in MRI, your wife supporting you. You both have been rewarded and now she's going further. Where do you see the future of MRI? What excites you most about the future of MRI?

Kwame: 20:17

I like the AI. The scans are faster. I think that's awesome. The quicker we can get those patients out and the high quality images. That's great. I do not want to have patients in there for half an hour, hour. I like the software they've been working on for radiologists and I knew a guy that was doing test studies and they're scanning rats and they're looking at their kidneys. That's going to be cool. They're not going to get rid of rads, but it'll be a second set of eyes. If they're scanning a brain. Sometimes they don't catch things and you put negative, but there's clearly something there. You'll have AI, they'll be able to detect these things and highlight them. And I think that's going to be really good for treating patients and take a little stress off the radiologist.

Chaundria: 20:54

What do you think about remote scanning? That's a hot topic.

Kwame: 20:57

I'm excited but also very nervous. Because it's hard for me to be looking on a screen and just trusting that random guy or girl taking my patient and putting them on the table. And I feel like they wouldn't be able to do it as good as me. Just the way I talk to my patients. My thing with patients is I always try to make some kind of connection. Especially if I have time and the patient's nervous. I'll find a connection. People like talk about dogs. Favorite restaurant in town. The smallest thing, they will just totally change their mood.

Chaundria: 21:24

People are nervous about the scan. They have a lot of things going through their mind. They don't know if they got cancer. Why this pain is happening. People have a lot of stuff going on before their scans. I like what you do there and your insight on MRI and your perspective. Has been really eye opening. I thank you for coming on the podcast today because people need to know that there are other options and that MRI is a primary pathway and you're showing that you're doing it right. You are continuing to advance in a field. You take great care of your patients and you abide by the MRI safety, which we all need to do. You hit all the markers as a good example for all of us and for patients to know that they are in good hands when they go get their MRI scan. Please be sure to check the MRI man out over on YouTube, his Etsy shop. He's on social media. Be sure to give a shout out and leave a review for this podcast, because we always bring you the best when it comes to radiology. Thank you Kwame for being a guest and we appreciate your time.

22:21

And that's a wrap for this episode of a couple of rad techs podcast. We hope you enjoyed our discussion of the fascinating world of radiology and learn something new about the role we play in the healthcare industry. If you have any questions or topics that you love for us to cover, feel free to reach out and let us know what they are. And you guys, please, if you enjoyed this podcast or any of the other episodes, we want to hear what you think. Thought leave us a review. Mama's got to pay our bills. It helps. And until next time, stay tuned for more insightful and informative episodes of a couple of rad techs podcast.