sono sage

In my thirty years as a Sonographer and a few years as a Radiologic Technologist before that, I have seen my share of students come and go. While I have never spent time in a teaching institution as an instructor, I have been a clinical supervisor in multiple settings, both hospital, and clinic. I have witnessed students succeed and fail.

Failures happen for the following reasons: 1) the student’s inabilities, 2) the field wasn’t what the student expected, 3) stress placed upon the student by the teaching institution, the clinical site, or sources outside of the educational experience. The goal of this blog is to help more students succeed in the field of Sonography.

The fact is the profession needs students to succeed and wants students to succeed. But those of us who are already in the profession do not always know how to best help students succeed. Again, there are several reasons for this. The number one reason is likely that teaching is hard. Teaching is probably harder than learning, as difficult as that is to believe when you are the student. Teaching is hard because there are so many things to teach. Teaching is hard because supervising Technologists are still responsible for the content of the Sonography exam. Teaching is hard because the Sonographer is expected to complete a specified number of exams every day, and that number is rising due to cutbacks in healthcare and increased patient volumes. Sonographers are expected to complete exams within a specified amount of time and to find and document any abnormality. Teaching is time-consuming. Teaching is exhausting. Ask any sonographer who has spent the last eight to ten hours with a first year student how they are feeling, and if they have any energy left to answer you at all they will tell you that they are spent. And now they may have to face a night of call as well. Too many days in a row of that contribute to attitudes toward teaching declining quickly. But in the end, I am not here to make excuses for the Sonographers already in the field. I am here help the student get the greatest value out of their education, and the greatest assistance out of the Sonographers who are there to help.
Even though Sonographers are not always the best at giving of themselves to help those coming up behind them, they need students. Sonographers are getting older. We need well-trained sonographers to follow in our footsteps. We need you to be competent so that we may preserve and further our reputation. Sonographers are proud of the profession. We take pride in how well we do our jobs and we take pride in being a very active member of the diagnostic team. Sonographers love being highly respected for their knowledge. But respect does not come without deep commitment; the commitment to being dedicated to the profession, to being competent, to keeping up with current practices. We go the extra mile and are a well-oiled part of the diagnostic team.
This blog is not meant to teach you how to scan. Instead, I hope this blog helps you learn this highly skilled profession. My purpose is to give advice and guide you through the rough spots, of which there will be plenty.