ISRRT_COVID-19_book

months of the pandemic we only used masks if the patients we examined were at risk of
having COVID-19. As the pandemic progressed, we would wear a surgical mask every time we
have a contact with any patients, whether they had COVID-19 or not. We wore FFP2 / KN95
masks exclusively for the examination of COVID-19-patients and eventually for every contact
with patients; we also changed masks after we had contact with a known COVID-19-patient.
Every time my hospital updated its policy on wearing masks the latest policy became more
stringent. Interestingly, some of my colleagues said that masks are ineffective because we
breathe in air from around the mask as the seal to our skin isn’t that efficient for certain types
of masks. However, the FFP2 / KN95 masks have a better fit to the skin, but even these are
not always close enough at every point of the face, especially the part between nose and
cheek.
Other colleagues appeared to care more about the environment and were disappointed with
all the waste that was produced as a consequence of using disposable face masks. In the end,
we all agreed that next time it would be best to start with using FFP2 masks instead of using
surgical masks. But there is another reason to wear FFP2 / KN95 masks right from the
beginning and by each and every contact with patients. When the pandemic was in the early
phase it happened to me personally, when I received a call from one of the leading medical
practitioners (doctors) of a ward for internal medicine. She asked me which radiographer had
processed an X-ray image for a particular patient. I checked the system and said that I did it.
She ordered me to get a PCR-Test because this patient had developed symptoms for COVID-
19 and was now isolated. The quick-test of this patient, which was processed earlier, was
negative but the PCR-Test which was processed later shows a positive result. From this I
deduced not all tests for COVID-19 are 100% accurate; subsequently this has been borne out
in practice and the literature. Fortunately, my test was negative; unfortunately I spent
Pentecost 2020 alone and isolated in my apartment waiting for the results.
Another ambitious aim in my hospital was that every new patient should be isolated until a
PCR-Test is processed and proven negative. This way the responsible staff of my hospital tries
to detect asymptomatic patients faster because the very last thing wanted was that it spreads
around the whole hospital. As a radiographer you have a lot of contact with many patients in
a wide range of clinical settings. Radiographers therefore could become vectors for spreading
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