I'm getting a little frustrated with the rhetoric used around COVID-19. In particularly, the whole "frontline"-rhetoric. And this is a rant from "the backline" (which is a stupid play) and it's only from a medical point of view because I work in a hospital. 

Also, a little background here; where I live there's a lot of talk about nurses and CNA's and how they deserve to be paid more during COVID19-times because they're more at risk from catching the disease. The government acknowledged catching COVID19 as a work-related injury for healthcare personnel and if one gets longlasting injuries they can get a monetary compensation.

I work in Radiology. That means I meet a lot of different people every day (patientflow ranges from 8 patients a day in MRI to 60 patients a day in conventionel xray) and because doctors generally need diagnostic imaging these days before they call any diagnosis (it seems), of course we have to take xrays of COVID19 patients as well. 

So - not only do I meet a decent amount of potentially COVID19-patients and have to dress up in a suit and wear glasses/masks and still have the chance of getting infected, I also have to go back and meet a lot of potentially healthy people who will now get infected by me. It also happens that some doctors are people and forget to tell us (working in Radiology) that so-and-so patient is under isolation for X disease (including COVID19!!!) which means we have to be high-alert to catch all mistakes and still could end up face to face with an infected patient and not being protected because nobody told us. 

YET STILL - I AM NOT FRONTLINE.

At least according to just about everybody, government or not. 

No, the nurses are frontline. The doctors are frontline. And that's about it. The CNA's just about snuck in there with the nurses, but the point is - I am not a "national hero", I am not frontline, I am not really worth a higher pay during these times because "I am not at risk for infection". Bull. 

I have a coworker who caught COVID19. It's most likely she caught it from a patient she was taking an xray of. She's going to make a work-related injury claim, just to have it on record should she later suffer longterm effects of the COVID19. But if she's to have any longterm effects, it's going to be one hell of a fight to get even a cent back in compensation - because she's not frontline either. 

I don't mind not being frontline, it's not like I have a desire to be a hero. I have no problem with going to work in these times (I find it a bit of a blessing to still have a routine and meet people) and I don't even mind the higher risk of getting COVID19.

 I also don't mind people working in those specific COVID19-wards getting some kind of monetary compensation for their work during this pandemic. 

What I DO mind is the idea that hospitals only work with doctors and nurses. I get annoyed by the idea that the only people who do something for patients during this time is nurses and doctors when in most cases; without me, the xray tech, those doctors would be so far out. We have a lot of younger doctors at my specific hospital and they use diagnostic imaging for just about everything. "We just want to make sure". I'm busy on a daily basis despite working in a very "rural" and small hospital. 

Without labs and diagnostic imaging we'd be back in ancient times (kinda). So for the love of god, acknowledge that it is not only doctors and nurses in the hospital who are at risk of COVID19, who go to work to help our patients through in terms of safety and more. We want to do as good a job as any, but if there is two departments in a hospital that could spread disease wildly, it's radiology and laboratory. Because we meet so many people every day and if only one of us gets infected without symptoms we could spread it to 25 people on average. A day. 

And I dare you to find a modern hospital that functions without diagnostic imaging and lab tests. 

And for the love of god, don't trust medical dramas when the doctors themselves to diagnostic imaging. In real life, there is NO WAY, they can work it out, lol. I once tried to run a radiologist (who looks at pictures all day and works with us) through a cat-scan of a patient and he was clueless, I tell you. 

I am not just a button-pusher. I am apparently not in the COVID19-frontline. 

But I am an integral part of the hospital and I want to be viewed as such. 

// Rant over. Peace out. Be careful and trust yourself.