What to Expect as an Ultrasonographer
This blog is now focused on laboratory specialties. This article is here for your information only, as jobs are longer provided for any radiation technician specialties.
An ultrasonographer uses special equipment that generates high frequency sound waves and directs them into a patient’s body. The ultrasound equipment then collects the reflected echoes and forms an image that can be photographed or videotaped. An ultrasonographer explains the procedure to
patient and records the patient’s medical history. Then, an ultrasonographer sets the equipment at the correct settings, and moves the patient into the best position for scanning. The ultrasonographer looks at the screen during the scan and take measurements, analyze the results, check for anything unusual, and store the images that the physician will want to see.
There are several different fields that an ultrasonographer can choose to specialize in. An obstetric and gynecologic ultrasonographer images the female reproductive system. This includes ultrasounds taken during pregnancy. An abdominal ultrasonographer scans the abdominal cavity to aid in diagnosis and treatment of problems with the gallbladder, kidneys, liver, pancreas, spleen, and the male reproductive system. A neurosonographer scans the nervous system, including the brain. A breast ultrasonographer deals with diseases of the breasts. A breast ultrasonographer helps to supplement mammographer in screening for cancer.
An ultrasonographer can expect to be on his/her feet much of the time. Ultrasonographers often have to lift and turn patients, so there is a risk for carpel tunnel syndrome and neck and back strain. Also, an ultrasonographer will often work in darkened rooms, so eye strain can be a risk. Most ultrasonographers work 40 hours per week, but flexible schedules are common.
To become an ultrasonographer, one needs to complete an associate or bachelor’s degree in ultrasonography. It is also possible to obtain an associate or bachelor’s degree in radiography, then get a certificate in ultrasonography afterwards. Often, an ultrasonographer who wants to be in a managerial position will need to complete a bachelor’s degree.
Learn about hiring an ultrasonographer or find a job as an ultrasonographer.
Source:
- December 18, 2007. Diagnostic Medical Sonographers. U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics, http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos273.htm
An Ultrasonographer can Help Alcohol Exposed Fetuses
This blog is now focused on laboratory specialties. This article is here for your information only, as jobs are longer provided for any radiation technician specialties.
DISCLAIMER: The photo in this article is Tess Johnson (right) at CHG’s Halloween party. She took second prize in the costume contest with this flattering ensemble. By day, Tess is one of the staff writers for this blog; by night…uh…well, this picture speaks for its self!!!
Alcohol consumption during pregnancy may reduce the size of the fetal frontal cortex, resulting in functional disabilities for the child, according to a study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. For this study ultrasonographers performed multiple ultrasounds on 167 pregnant women between 12 and 42 weeks gestation. During the assessments, the frontal cortex and other brain structures were visualized and measured by an ultrasonographer. Ninety-seven of the women who were scanned by an ultrasonographer reported consuming little or no alcohol (less than one ounce on average per day) around the time of conception. In contrast 70 of the women who were scanned by an ultrasonographer consumed moderate (1-2.99 ounces on average per day) to large amounts (3 or more ounces on average per day).
Through the use of ultrasound researchers found that alcohol exposure was associated with a reduction in the frontal cortex. However, ultrasonographers did not see problems with the development of other brain structures. Thus, ultrasonographers witnessed a disproportionate effect of alcohol on the frontal cortex rather than the brain overall. Ultrasonographer’s scans did show that other substances had a minor effect on frontal lobe size, but the impact of alcohol was most significant.
Ultrasonographer’s exams yielded shocking results: 23% of fetuses exposed to large amounts of alcohol had a frontal cortex length below the 10th percentile, and 46% had a frontal cortex below the 25th percentile. When ultrasonographers examined nonexposed fetuses, only 4% had a frontal cortex length below the 10th percentile and 20% had a frontal cortex below the 25th percentile. Researchers saw in ultrasonographer’s exams that reductions in the frontal cortex were caused the alcohol exposed children to have difficulties updating and manipulating information in working memory, inhibiting information and actions and sustaining attention. Children affected by Fetal Alcohol Syndrome typically show growth retardation, facial dysmorphology and central nervous system dysfunction. Study authors added that ultrasonography may be a powerful primary intervention tool. An ultrasonographer who sees alcohol-induced changes in the fetal brain can alert the woman’s physician, who can encourage women who drink during pregnancy to seek treatment. It was seen that if an ultrasonographer did identify these alcohol-exposed fetuses and the mothers did get help as a result, there are positive outcomes and a reduced likelihood of secondary disabilities.
Learn about hiring an ultrasonographer.
Sources:
- http://www.americanhealthline.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/archives/2001/09/m010927.11.html
New Ultrasound Technique
This blog is now focused on laboratory specialties. This article is here for your information only, as jobs are longer provided for any radiation technician specialties.
There are two ways to administer anesthesia, the first is general anesthesia, which puts the patient completely under. The second is regional anesthesia, which is where only the part of the body being operated on is numbed. General anesthesia has a lot more complications associated with it, especially for obese people. On the other hand, regional anesthesia can be tricky to administer, because the anesthesiologist must inject the drug close to the nerve for it to be effective, but the nerve should not be punctured. Regional anesthesiology can be especially tricky in obese people because it is hard to figure out where the nerves are under a layer of fat.
Australian anesthesiologists have come up with a new way to more effectively anesthetize patients. They are using ultrasound to guide them in regional anesthesia. Ultrasonographers are able to scan the patients so that the doctors can see where the nerves are, even if the patient is obese. This way, the doctor and give the drug the best distance from the nerve as possible using ultrasound images as guides.
It has been estimated that this ultrasound technique could eliminate up to 40 percent of general anesthesia in favor of regional anesthesia. However, ultrasound has only been used in this way on about 1 percent of Australians at this point. Using ultrasound to give regional instead of general anesthesia is good for hospitals, because if a patient is given regional anesthesia using ultrasound instead of general anesthesia, then the patient can often leave the hospital sooner, freeing up space for the next patient.
This could make the need for ultrasonographers even greater. Also, ultrasonographers will have yet another option in which niche to choose.
Learn about hiring an ultrasonographer.
Souce:
- (2008 February, 17) Ultrasound may Guide Anaesthetists With Precision for Safer Surgery. General health News http://www.medindia.net/news/Ultrasound-may-Guide-Anaesthetists-With-Precision-for-Safer-Surgery-33109-1.htm
Are Male Ultrasonographers Discriminated Against?
This blog is now focused on laboratory specialties. This article is here for your information only, as jobs are no longer provided for any radiation technician specialties.
Being a male ultrasonographer can make it tough to find a job. Many facilities will only hire a female . There are several reasons why this is so.
There are many facilities that require a chaperon to be present when a male ultrasonographer performs an sonogram on a woman. Facilities probably choose to make this a policy to avoid lawsuits. However, a female ultrasonographer is usually not required to have a chaperon present during a sonogram. This means that most facilities who choose to hire a male ultrasonographer would then have to pay a chaperon to be present during every sonogram or other sensitive exam. Also, it is common for patients to only allow female ultrasonographer to scan them.
These reasons make it easy to see why hospitals would not want to hire a male ultrasonographer. But, is this illegal? The Civil Rights Act of 1964 does state that “no employer may discriminate on the basis of race, sex, national origin and religion”. However, it goes on to provide employers leeway: “where religion, sex, or national origin is a bona fide occupational qualification reasonably necessary to the normal operation of that particular business of enterprise”.
While male ultrasonographers are discriminated against, it is done legally, and there isn’t anything right now that they can do about it. This is sad, because there are some male ultrasonographers who are very good at what they do that do not get the opportunities that a female would. On the other hand, male ultrasonographers choose their professions knowing that this discrimination exists.
Learn about hiring an ultrasonographer.
Source:
- Stanislaw, Stacy (2007, December 24) Sex in Sonography: Is There a Double Standard? Advance for Imaging and Radiation Thereapy Professionals, 18
How CT Technologists, MRI Technologists, Mammographers and Ultrasonographers Are Affected by Obesity
This blog is now focused on laboratory specialties. This article is here for your information only, as jobs are no longer provided for any radiation technician specialties.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers thirty percent of American adults to be obese, and many areas of imaging are struggling to provide these people with good images and equipment that fits them.
Excess fat often impacts image quality, causing the patient to need more tests and sometimes a longer hospital stay. Also, equipment is stressed more and needs to be replaced more often when being used on obese patients.
The larger the body, the harder it is for an ultrasonographer to get a clear picture. Also, it is more physically demanding for an ultrasonographer to image an obese person, because they must push as close to the internal structures as possible, so if a person is very overweight, the ultrasonographer has to push as far into the excess fat as they can.
As long as the patient fits into the machine, a CT technologist or MRI technologist isn’t affected as much as an ultrasonographer, but there are still issues. A CT technologist can adjust the scan time and range to image large patients more successfully, but this requires that th CT technologist be very knowledgeable and it requires that a larger dose of radiation be given to the patient. MRI technologists will probably be impacted by large patients the least, because machines are coming out in models offering better service for large patients.
Large patients are also a challenge for a mammographer because positioning is tricky and patients get a false positive twenty percent more often than normal or underweight patients do.
There are some advances being made to improve imaging for large patients, but they come at a higher health care cost.
Learn about hiring a CT technologist, MRI technologist, mammographer, or ultrasonographer.
- Long, Sarah (2006, October 2) Limited by Body Habitus. Advance for Imaging and Radiation Thereapy Professionals, 21-23
The Work of an Ultrasonographer is Unique
This blog is now focused on laboratory specialties. This article is here for your information only, as jobs are no longer provided for any radiation technician specialties.
Being an ultrasonographer is a very important job and and puts you in an interesting place in medical world. There are several reasons why ultrasound is different than other imaging professions.
An ultrasonographer is one of the few types of imagers who do not use ionizing radiation. This fact allows an ultrasonographer to look at vulnerable areas of the body such as the brain, as well as to look at fetuses. Also, ultrasound images can be taken repeatedly without risk of overexposure.
Ultrasound images are seen in real time and are seen in motion. This means an ultrasonographer can look at blood blow throughout the body, cardiac motion, and fetal motion.
The ultrasonographer is by the patient’s side the whole time an ultrasound exam is being conducted. This gives ultrasonographers a lot of one on one patient time and as a result, allows them to build a relationship with the patient. This is different than many other areas of imaging, where the patient is set up for the image by a technician, but the technician must then leave the room before the image is taken. This means that an ultrasonographer is actually there while taking the images and able to address any concers that a patient may have at any time during the procedure. For this reason it is more important that an ultrasonographer be good at interacting with patients than many other types of technicians.
Since ultrasounds are safe to take of any area of the body, there are a wide variety of areas in which an ultrasonographer can choose to work, a few being ob/gyn, cardiology, urology and vascular surgery. Because of this variety ultrasonographers have a very large possible scope of work to choose from.
Learn more about hiring an ultrasonographer.
Source:
- Merton, Daniel (2008, October 2) Let’s Celebrate the Uniqueness of Medical Sonograhy. Advance for Imaging and Radiation Therapy Professionals, 10, 16.
New Technology for Ultrasonographers
This blog is now focused on laboratory specialties. This article is here for your information only, as jobs are no longer provided for any radiation technician specialties.
The first elastography capable ultrasound system hit the market about a year ago. Elasticity imaging gauges how much tissue moves when pressed, how hard or soft tissue is, and how the size changes when pressed. Malignant tissue reacts slightly differently than benign tissue in these tests, giving useful information about a tumor.
An elastography exam is done on an ultrasound machine, but using different software than is used to perform an ultrasound. The technique is noninvasive, just like an ultrasound, and can be performed at the same time as an ultrasound when an ultrasonographer moves tissue slightly with a transducer. The ultrasonographer is then provided with two sets of information and can better interpret what is seen.
Elastography still has a long way to go before becoming a common practice. It must be proven that the elastography exam can be done with little variability between ultrasonographers. Also, the practice is limited to instances where the lesion can be seen on the ultrasound in the first place to get useful results using elastography. However, researchers see much promise for elastography’s use in breast cancer especially, and hope that it will become a mainstream practice soon.
Learn more about hiring Ultrasonographers.
Sources:
- Stanislaw, Stacy (2008, March 3) Virtual Palpation. Advance for Imaging and Radiation Therapy Professionals, 20-22
