How many retakes are too many?

[Thomas Schiff]

I think it should be zero. unless there is an exceptionally complex patient who gaggs a lot.
Thomas

>>> Sharon Brooks <slbrooks at UMICH.EDU> 04/21 12:22 PM >>>
We had a personnel issue come up recently in which one of our xray
techs is accused of overexposing patients by needing an excessive
number of retakes. I was asked what an acceptable number would be for
an experienced person who has been taking oral radiographs for about
30 years.

Obviously the best answer would be "none" but that may not be
realistic since none of us is perfect. Does anyone have a reasonable
answer to this? Apparently they checked the log of patient visits for
a month and found that she retook at least one film on about 20-25%
of patients in that month, which seems excessive to me, especially
for someone experienced. (No, I am not her supervisor. It's a long
story that has to do with how our school was reorganized several
years ago.)

Thanks for any help you can give me.

Sharon
--
**************************************************************************
Sharon L. Brooks, DDS, MS (slbrooks at umich.edu)

University of Michigan, School of Dentistry, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1078
Phone: 734-764-1595     FAX: 734-764-2469 (UM)     FAX: 734-475-0122 (Home)