Diagnostic Medical Sonographer

The career I am choosing to research is a diagnostic medical sonographer, and to

specialize in cardiac sonography. There are a lot of personal reasons I am choosing to look

into this career. To start, I've been interested in ultrasound for quite sometime, and have

always played with the idea of being an ultrasound tech. However, I have a special interest in

cardiology because of my own past. I've been getting echocardiograms since I was three years

old- My dad passed away from a sudden cardiac arrest and we discovered he had a heart

disease called Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy also referred to as HCM. Getting regular

echoes done up at Primary Children's made me comfortable around the machinery and

comfortable around the technicians. Just last year in 2016, halfway through my pregnancy I

was diagnosed with HCM. I remember looking at the screen when I was getting my echo

done and wishing I could better understand the images- so here I am wanting to learn more

about becoming a cardiac sonographer.

Job Description

The job description for a cardiac sonographer is, ...use non-invasive cardiovascular

technology equipment to assist in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with heart and

blood vessel conditions. The ideal candidate for this career has excellent communication skills

in order to convey scientific information to doctors, as well as a good bedside manner for

dealing with patients. (Cardiac Sonographer). Some day-to-day duties would include

performing the non-invasive procedure and using your knowledge on the heart muscles,

valves, and vessels to determine whether a heart is healthy or isn't and what the diagnosis
could be if it's the latter. Other duties would be communicating well and professionally with

the doctors, nurses, and patients. It is very important to communicate efficiently with the

doctors in order to better serve the patient by correctly passing on the information and

diagnosis to ensure the proper treatment will be used.

Other duties that a cardiac sonographer would have would be managing the

ultrasound machine and describing the process to the patient. They need to be

knowledgeable in how the machine works, and how to properly care for it. Cardiac

sonographers don't actually make any diagnosis, but in many cases they help assist the

Radiologist in this process. They need to pass on their knowledge and mastery of the cardiac

images to the doctor so the doctor can come up with the most plausible diagnosis.

Average Salary & Job Outlook

Diagnostic Medical Sonographers make a salary of 28k-87k with a median salary of

$63,330 a year according to Bureau of Labor Statistics (Diagnostic Medical Sonographer).

Depending on what type of sonography you want to specialize in, the salary can increase or

decrease. For example, 43 percent of Pediatric Cardiac Sonographers queried were earning

annual of $80,000 or more, and that equates to $38.46 per hour (Best Pediatric Cardiac

Sonography...). Since I've been getting echocardiograms my whole life, and I love working

with kids, I have considered doing pediatric sonography. The job outlook for a pediatric

cardiac sonographer is supposed to grow 30 percent between 2012-2022 with more

opportunities and advancements such a lead positions and multiple echocardiography for

pediatric care (Best Pediatric Cardiac Sonography...).

 Continuing our focus of Pediatric Sonographers, there is a special certificate you need

to complete after your schooling to be able to become a Pediatric sonographer. Children's

bodies are very different then adult bodies- A child's physiology is very different from an

adults. Their breathing rate is higher, along with their heart rate. Their bodies are smaller and

they have different tissue composition. Diseases and disorders vary across the human

lifespan (Brunet, M).

General Career Path & General Education Experience

Here in Utah, there are a couple really good choices when it comes to schools that offer

a sonography/radiology imaging program. To start off. SLCC has a really great program that

I've always discussed with my advisor about possibly applying for. The program at SLCC is a

two year program that prepares students for the challenge of operating state-of-the-art

ultrasound equipment. In addition, students learn how to read results from ultrasounds and

explain the results to patients in a way they can understand. This two-year certificate

program prepares students to sit for the national registry examinations in abdominal,

obstetric/gynecologic and vascular areas through the American Registry of Diagnostic

Medical Sonography (ARDMS) (Diagnostic Medical Songography).

What I like about the SLCC program is that they have three different pathways when it

comes to prerequisites to get admitted into the program. One pathway is having a bachelors

degree in any given field, another pathway is having an associates degree in any patient care

field, and the last pathway is a list of classes you need to take before hand (Human Anatomy,

Human Physiology, Physics, etc.). The program at SLCC is an associates program and you
can complete it in two years.

The program at the University of Utah requires an active ARDMS or to be ARDMS

eligible. The program at the University of Utah would be an internship program and the

easiest way to go that route would be to transfer from SLCC. The program at the University

of Utah is an ' Advanced Ultrasound Internship' and this educational opportunity is available

both part time, and full time- Part time being 6 months, and full time being 3 months. This

internship is hard to get, as they only accept one student at a time and then go off of rotation.

(Advanced Ultrasound Internship).

Bio of a Diagnostic Medical Sonographer

I was able to have a brief conversation with the manager of Non-Invasive Imaging at

the University of Utah Hospital and ask her some questions. Georgeanne Lammertin was

very busy when I talked to her, but she did give me a moment of her time- even better, in a

couple weeks she is allowing me to shadow her for a couple hours so I can get a good feel of

this career- Unfortunately the timing didn't line up for this paper but I'm very excited. Some

quick questions I asked Georgeanne was how tiring and physical this job was. She told me

that even though there are moments you are sitting and performing an ultrasound, it is a

pretty physically demanding job. She said that every day is different, and will hold a

completely different set of events than the previous day. Within an 8 hour period you could

see anywhere from 8-10 patients typically. An ultrasound can last anywhere from 15 minutes

to over an hour depending on what part of the body you are doing an ultrasound on. The

quantity of pictures you need also depends on what type of ultrasound you are conducting.
For example, obstetrics requires lots of pictures, around 60-120 (Georgeanne Lammertin).

Pros and Cons

From the information I have gathered there are pros and cons I would have to

consider. Some of the pros are- This career choice does not require years and years of

schooling, like most jobs in the medical field do. For me this is a pro because I personally

don't feel like I have all the time in the world to go to school. I have a 10 month old daughter

and I feel very ready to be into my career sooner rather than later. Another pro is the salary-

The median salary for all fields of sonography is $63,330 a year, and the average pediatric

cardiac sonographer makes about $80,000 a year. Another aspect of the job that would be a

pro to me is that it is in the medical field and I've always had a passion for helping and

assisting others, especially children- I think this would be a very rewarding career.

When it comes to being a diagnostic medical sonographer there are some cons to this

career. The biggest one to me is the fact that it is a tech job. I would be going to school for a

very specific career, so if for any reason I found out this wasn't for me, there really isn't much

else I could do with this degree. That was the biggest con I found with this career and I think

that even if it ends up not being for me, it would be a good paying job to have if I end up ever

going back to school.

My fit with being a Diagnostic Medical Sonographer

All in all, I think becoming a diagnostic medical sonographer would be a good fit. It

has always intrigued me, and I have a passion for helping others. The quick schooling is right

up my alley, along with the good salary that comes with it. I'm really looking forward to
shadowing Georgeanne in a couple weeks and hopefully after witnessing her typical day-to-

day duties could really give me a feel for this career.

 Sources

Advanced Ultrasound Internship. (2017, April 25). Retrieved July 30, 2017, from

http://medicine.utah.edu/radiology/education/technologist-

education/programs/advanced-ultrasound-internship/

Best Pediatric Cardiac Sonography Programs in 2017 Ultrasound Technician. (2017, June

01). Retrieved July 15, 2017, from

http://www.ultrasoundtechniciancenter.org/specialized-programs/accredited-

pediatric-cardiac-sonography-programs.html

Brunet, M. (n.d.). Pediatric Ultrasound. Retrieved July 19, 2017, from

http://www.ultrasoundschoolsinfo.com/pediatric-ultrasound/

Cardiac Sonographer: Job Description, Duties, and Requirements. (n.d.). Retrieved July 10,

2017, from

_______http://study.com/articles/Cardiac_Sonographer_Job_Description_Duties_and_Requ

_______irements.html

Diagnostic Medical Sonographer. (n.d.). Retrieved July 15, 2017, from

https://explorehealthcareers.org/career/allied-health-professions/diagnostic-medical-

sonographer/

Diagnostic Medical Sonography. (n.d.). Retrieved July 26, 2017, from

http://www.oit.edu/academics/degrees/diagnostic-medical-sonography

Georgeanne Lammertin [Telephone interview]. (2017, July 20).