Always get the phone numbers of every radiology service department
You don’t want to wait 10 minutes for Switch only to be told the CT number is busy, could you try again in 20 minutes
Order the scan ASAP
History: always include as a good a clinical history as possible
Pathology: know what you’re looking for and correlate it clinically with pertinent history, exam or lab results
Include all findings relevant to the differential e.g. ‘patient is guarding, tachy, febrile, CRP of 300, WCC of 30, RLQ pain shifted from periumbilical, psoas sign positive’ is far more convincing for appendicitis than just ‘looking for appendicitis’
Modality: always try to choose the correct imaging modality to rule in/out the pathology; ask radiology or your reg if unsure
Have everything prepared before the call like a consult
If organising multiple scans, call all in one go for each department (e.g. approve every CT in one call)
Following up an order in eMR (status converts to scheduled/exam registered/arrived)