The interview was about the medical profession in Sonography. The interviewee was Ms. Jacqueline Turner. She is the program director for Cardiovascular Sonography at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College in Cincinnati, Ohio. She has been in this profession for 17 years and still enjoys it aside from receiving good pay for it. Her interest in the images of ultrasound led her to enter the field of sonography.
After graduating, she started as a Vascular Technician in a local hospital then moved on to the position of an Applications Specialist with Hewlett Packard Medical Division and then to the position of Cardiovascular Program Director of DMS-CV Diagnostic Medical Sonography at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College. Sonography has been her main way of communicating with other people and reaching out to their lives. It is a means of helping the patients by making them feel safe and comfortable and providing them the accurate results they need.
At school, it is a way of educating the students by guiding them in becoming responsible and qualified health care professionals. As a sonographer, one needs to be a good communicator, being able to get across to the patients the things they can expect from the tests, and to have good technical skills and knowledge in ultrasound and its applications. Having a social life can also help in communicating with various people. Sonography is a continuing education according to Ms. turner.
As a sonographer, one needs to be confident, persistent and knowledgeable in the field and must be able to keep himself up in the current innovations and breakthroughs of ultrasound technology. In order to become a qualified sonographer, the budding applicant must have a minimum associate degree in sonography, and credentials such as Registered Diagnostic Medical Sonographer and Registered Vascular Technologist granted by the American Registry of Diagnostic Medical Sonographers.
Continuous education through seminars and getting as much scan time as possible will greatly help a sonographer in fulfilling the job. Sonography, after all, is a hands-on profession. As a profession, sonography is within the top 20 career choices for several years. It is a financially and personally fulfilling job because aside from reaching out and helping other people, one will also receive a good pay for it. Other opportunities in this career include traveling to other places, sales, other medical fields, and research.
Nevertheless, some patient-related disappointments that may be experienced are witnessing the unneeded tests on patients, which add up to the latter’s agonies and bills, and insensitiveness of hospital employees for the patients and carelessness in their work. Some of physically distressing experiences include body aches (MSI), soreness and long hours call, and emotionally draining at times when the patient will eventually pass or has passed away. It is helpful for a sonographer to have a desire to care for the sick and elderly, and have a passion to assist or help other people.
It is recommended that a sonographer should be precise and patient, always rechecking the work and ensuring that every part of the exam has sense and has correlation with the final result. A sonographer should be open to others’ advice or opinion, be proud of the profession and be professional. In the field of sonography, the sonographers have broad, direct contact with the patient, which can include performing some invasive processes. They should be compassionate and effective in dealing with healthy to critically ill people.
In short, they must be flexible. In this regard, as the interviewer, I am aware of the type of people to deal with and I agree that as an allied health care professional, I must be sensitive enough to understand the pain and heartaches of the patients as well as their families’. However, as a professional, I also need to be calm and to have a certain degree of detachment from the patient since the job must not be compromised by being so empathetic to the patient and his family. One should know when to empathize and when to become professional.
Also, I agree that being a sonographer requires a certain level of proper communication and interaction with patients. Nevertheless, listening skills are also commendable since these patients need attention and part of it is unloading of their emotional hurts. By listening, the patients will be able to unload their fears and might be comforted from their dilemmas.
Reference
Interview with Ms. Jacqueline Turner, Program Director for Cardiovascular Sonography, Cincinnati State Technical and Community College, Cincinnati, Ohio.