What Can Sonography Detect: Becoming a Sonography Technologist

While diagnosing disorders and diseases gets easier all the time thanks to new technology, a lot of that technology is useless without skilled people to operate it. Sonographic equipment is no exception. These devices offer impressive visual diagnostic capabilities that can help save lives, but they're all but useless without the oversight of a capable sonography technologist (or sonographer).

What Is Sonography?

Sonography is the practice of using ultrasound technology to make useful determinations about your subject. This sophisticated technological field has the remarkable ability to make the invisible - in other words, most of what's inside your body - visible. If you know a little about how a bat's or a dolphin's echolocation works, you know the basics of this, too.

A rod attached to a machine that emits high-frequency sound waves is guided over the area of the subject that one wishes to examine, and the machine records where, when and how much of the sound is bounced back. With this information, it can determine whether a solid or semi-solid object is in its way, and it then constructs a detailed picture to show what those objects look like and where they're placed.

This image isn't exactly high-resolution, though; a big part of a sonographer's job is to adjust the equipment and the patient as needed to produce the clearest possible picture in each case. They are also expected to use their previous experience to start to analyze what they've found.

The notes they make at this crucial stage inform the investigations conducted by the patient's doctors (who have final say in their diagnosis and treatment). For this reason, it's important that sonographers possess not only good technical skills, but also good judgment and intuition.

Working in This Field

Ultrasound technology has some commercial uses, but its most common application by far is in the healthcare sector; the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that there were 122,300 medical sonographers and sonographic Technologists working in America in 2016, and further expects the demand for such workers to rise by 17% by 2026.

It should also be noted that increasing advancements in artificial intelligence and predictive software are not expected to significantly disrupt the job market for sonographers and may in fact make the job easier as time goes on. The future looks brighter for this career than most, making it an attractive option for those who are trying to pivot to a brand new field.

The work is also more diverse than you might expect: many sonographers primarily give the stereotypical fetal ultrasounds, but plenty of others work on specific organs like the heart or musculoskeletal system instead. Ultrasound equipment can detect small but critical problems like blockages that other diagnostic techniques might miss, and these experts are often the first to spot them in the patient's scans. If you really want to make a difference with your skills, working diligently in one of these specialties will let you do it.

The Importance of Training

There's no arguing that sonography hasn't changed the world of medicine for the better. Whereas we once might have had to use highly invasive exploratory surgery techniques to investigate unknown illnesses and phenomena within an individual, we can now rely on the images that sonography equipment instead.

This has changed an extremely dangerous diagnostic process into one that is practically risk-free, but it has also caused sonographers to carry a lot of responsibility. Your results can mean the difference between life and death for vulnerable patients.

It's up to you to make sure that the patients relying on you get results that are as accurate as possible every single time you operate an ultrasound machine, and sonography training programs in schools aim to give you that professional skill and confidence.

Not only do they teach you how to operate the necessary equipment safely and effectively, but they also provide guidance on how to spot abnormalities on scans and deal ethically with patients. Most will even provide assistance in finding a placement for your required clinical training, so you'll go into your first job with hands-on experience. That's why taking your training seriously is the first step toward a successful career in this field.

Are you fascinated by the abilities of medical sonography? If you want to earn an Associate of Applied Science in Diagnostic Medical Sonography, consider ECPI University for your educational needs. With accelerated classes and a year-round schedule, you could move through your degree program faster. For more information, connect with a helpful admissions Representative today.

It could be the Best Decision You Ever Make!

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Gainful Employment Information – Sonography - Associate’s

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