Career in Sonography

Career in Sonography

If you are considering a career in Sonography, you must be one who is interested in operating high technology equipments as well as interacting with people. The ultrasound medical equipment uses the ultrasound frequency and Doppler principles to form images of abdomen, breast, fetus in the womb, heart, blood vessels and other organs of the body. These images will enable the physicians to examine the fetus for birth defects, detect abnormality in liver or the heart, and examination of other medical conditions of the body. This helps the physicians to make a good decision based on the real time condition of the patient.

It is fast replacing other traditional radiology methods of scanning as it is safer to the human body. It is non invasive, no surgical procedure needed and hence there is no bleeding to the body. Sonographers are non physician professionals who work in hospitals and private clinics where the demand for ultrasonic scanning is high enough to justify the purchase of the equipments. As the standard of living continues to increase and the population demands for better healthcare services, the job opportunity as a Sonographer is bright.

Career in Sonography Nature of Job

The sonograher operates the electronic ultrasound imaging equipment to create images that can be stored and process to enable the physicians to make good decision on the conditions of the patient. It is done by placing a transducer and spreading a special gel on the skin of the body area to be scanned. This device is able to transmit and receive the reflected ultrasonic sound wave from the parts of the body. The images are formed as different structures of the body will return a different strength of the wave. These data is reconstructed electronically and displayed on a monitor screen.

Sonographers must be able to interact effectively with people of all ages and health conditions as well as being sensitive to their needs.

Areas of Specialization

The following areas of Specialization that Sonograhers can pursue are listed below.

Adapted from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2006-07 Edition

• Obstetric and Gynecologic Sonographers specialize in the study of the female reproductive system. Included in the discipline is one of the more well-known uses of sonography: examining the fetus of a pregnant woman to track the baby’s growth and health.
• Abdominal sonographers inspect a patient’s abdominal cavity to help diagnose and treat conditions primarily involving the gallbladder, bile ducts, kidneys, liver, pancreas, and spleen. Abdominal sonographers also are able to scan parts of the chest, although studies of the heart using sonography usually are done by echocardiographers.
• Neurosonographers focus on the nervous system, including the brain. In neonatal care, neurosonographers study and diagnose neurological and nervous system disorders in premature infants. They also may scan blood vessels to check for abnormalities indicating a stroke in infants diagnosed with sickle-cell anemia. Like other sonographers, neurosonographers operate transducers to perform the sonogram, but use frequencies and beam shapes different from those used by obstetric and abdominal sonographers.
• Breast sonographers use sonography to study the disease in breasts. Sonography aids mammography in the detection of breast cancer. Breast sonography can also track tumors, blood supply conditions, and assist in the accurate biopsy of breast tissue. Breast sonographers use high-frequency transducers, made exclusively to study breast tissue.

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