Is Sonography A Good Job?

By Mark Zillas


You may only be aware of sonography as a way for pregnant women to check up on their unborn baby's health, size and expected due date through having a sonogram.

It is true that working with expectant mothers is part of a sonographer's job at times. You might have dreams of getting qualified as a Diagnostic Medical Sonographer, which are also known as sonographers or ultrasound technicians, because you have a wish to help expectant mothers see for the first time their babies. Schools for sonography provide you the ability to help expectant women through training you to be a sonographer.

The safeness of using the sonographic technology is that it has not radio waves, ionizing procedures or radiation involved in it. Imaging done with sonography is done by bouncing sound waves off the inside of the body, while collecting accurate images made by the echoes coming back from these sound waves. The images could be of muscles, joints, internal organs or an unborn baby still developing in the mother's womb.

If you've been considering a career as a medical technician you may wish to first get a license as a radiological technologist before attending sonography schools to become a medical sonographer.

Even though the sonography technology is thought of mostly as helping pregnant women, once you get your training and licensing passed, there is quite a bit of variety in your work. A diagnostic medical sonographer can specialize in many different areas. These could include the gynecological or obstetrical situations. However, you could also be doing imaging of the kidneys, gallbladder, pancreas, spleen or liver in the area of abdominal sonography.

As a sonographer you might specialize in neurosonography, which deals with the images of the nervous system and brain. Other specialties include vascular and cardiac sonography.

While you can go the non-accredited routes to this career of a sonographer, but if you so this, after you finish your education, you will still need to work for at least a year in the field of sonography before you will be able to take the examination for your license.

As part of your coursework, you will learn about basic physics, anatomy, medical ethics, instrumentation, physiology and patient care among other topics. You will be taught by instructors and with the help of videos and books. You will also use what you learn a apply it to practical, hands-on situations where you learn by doing. Schools for sonography provide 2- year and 4 year programs which earn you the associate degree or the bachelor degree of sonography.

While license isn't a requirement in any of the 50 states, employers would rather hire registered, licensed sonographers. Registration as a sonographer means that you've had the training needed to do the job and are a professional your field. Attending school and getting your degree helps you attain this professional standing by educating, and training you to the highest of standards in your chosen field as a sonographer technician.

Once you have passed your licensing exam, you will be certified by the ARDMS (American Registry for Diagnostic Medical Sonograpy) as a RDMS (Registered Diagnostic Medical Sonographer).

As a sonographer you will work close with the patients, explaining procedures, calming fears and helping finding the right position for the patient so you can take the best image possible.

When you first become a sonographer, you might be working in the area of abdominal sonography dealing with the liver, spleen and kidneys, but you do not have to stay in this specialty. Because of your education you can also work in other specialties, as in the expectant mothers eagerly waiting to see their babies, in their wombs, for the first time.




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