The Role of the Nurse in Diagnostic Imaging Tests

The role of nurses in radiology and diagnostic imaging departments is still very young, and there is a significant discrepancy between nurses’ attributions and prior knowledge of the activities developed in this new environment. An important point for the implementation of the procedures is the nursing consultation because this identifies the patients with higher risk, which allows discussing with the team the safest solution for each case and evaluating the individual risk potential of each patient. The activities of nurses in imaging are varied and bring with them a great deal of responsibility. They require professionals to have a dynamic, proactive, and humane attitude that must value quality of care. Considering the need to know the routine of the nursing team, especially the nurse in a diagnostic imaging department, and to identify and demonstrate their role, and taking into account that nursing in radiology is not well addressed in higher education and this lack of knowledge hinders the development of intervention strategies in this promising field, a descriptive study based on a literature review and practical experiences of nurses was conducted to highlight the importance of the role of nurses in this field. In the imaging service, nurses work on multiple fronts and are responsible for various activities. It is the nurse’s role to coordinate the team, oversee the daily schedule, develop continuing education strategies that promote daily team updates, see patients, provide nursing consultation, and monitor procedures performed with anesthesia. This article addresses the role of nurses in diagnostic imaging studies.