As long as you can get the car to power up (the lights and accessories come on in the RUN/Battery position), you can plug in a diagnostic scanner in and retrieve fault codes. You do not need the engine running.
If the car cannot power up, then the computer cannot turn on and the scanner cannot access the fault codes. In this case, you need to find out why the car isn't getting power before you can use the computer to diagnose any problems.
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Have you had the vehicle code read. if not, check the crank sensor for position they do have a tendancy to move. getting it code read would be the first option though.
do you have gas in the tank
Make sure connections are on tight.
There are a few things that it could be if you Dodge Stratus wont start on first try. It could be the starter.
Hopefully by the time they are a CT scan technologist they wont need "practice" starting IVs. CT scan areas usually work closely with the ER and many times if they are busy and the CT area is not busy we will help them by starting their IVs for them.