So you have applied, been accepted, and have started on the path to becoming a Sonographer, only to be confronted and overwhelmed by the enormous amount of information being tossed at you in a short amount of time. Where do you begin to learn it all?

Many programs will begin with a semester of course work only, but soon you will be participating in clinical hours as well as class time. The time consumption is daunting. Being at the hospital for close to the amount of time of a full-time job and taking a full load of college credits in some very difficult subjects can seem impossible to conquer. In some programs, you meet for class very little, leaving you to read and complete a course basically on your own, others meet more often and offer more guidance. Get help when you need it. Find that help wherever you can. Do not let yourself fall behind, it will only get worse in the end if you do. Many of your co-students are feeling the same way.

If you come across something you do not understand, ask Sonographers at the clinical site for help. They have been through this process themselves. Talk to the teachers at the school if you feel you just cannot grasp a concept. There is help out there, but I often hear of people dropping out of programs because they just did not know where to find that help. There is online help in the form of forums and apps. There are YouTube videos of nearly every exam we perform, giving you real-time imaging to enhance and supplement your comprehension of what you are reading. Check out the SDMS forums for students. Start a study group and get together at preset times weekly to discuss the coursework with other students. There are most likely others in the program are having the same issues. A study group can be a tremendous help to all who are involved. Take advantage of labs and phantoms to grasp scanning techniques.

Another route to obtaining help is through a mentor. Mentors do not need to be your clinical supervisor and may not even be a person at your clinical site, but should be someone you trust. Someone to go to with questions; someone to help you through the blurry areas. This person may not have all the answers, but should be able to help you in figuring out where to get the answers. Mentors may not and should not necessarily be willing to spend hours with you as a personal teacher. They should be someone you can bounce things off of to clarify in your mind that you have learned something correctly, that you do understand, that you get it, or not. This person will also be a useful resource as you transition from student life into your career.

In a typical program, you will have courses in Sonography principals and instrumentation, protocols, sectional anatomy, pathophysiology and imaging of every area of the body that you will be scanning, as well as patient care. Some of these areas will be completely new to you and may require you to go over them several times.

Establish good study habits early and maintain them throughout the program. Figure out how to work study time into your schedule. Figure out what study methods work best for you. For some reading and re-reading is beneficial, for others writing down notes is how they retain knowledge. Some of the subjects will be easier to put into practice while in the clinical site. Reading a section about liver anatomy and then scanning the liver and identifying each area and structure is extremely helpful. Finding pathology then looking it up and learning more about it will help to seal the knowledge. Other things are not so concrete and may require battering it again and again into your brain until you know it inside and out.