Career of Choice: Diagnostic Medical Sonographers

      Although Diagnostic Medical Sonographers may specialize in many different parts of the body, their work typically consist of preparing patients for procedures by taking their history down and answering any questions they may have in regards to it, knowing how to prepare and maintain their imaging equipment, being able to apply a gel to aid the sound waves’ ability to show the inside of the patients body, knowing how to operate their equipment in order to get the images of the specific areas being diagnosed, being able to analyze the images to check for quality and adequate coverage of the area needed along with recognizing the difference between normal and abnormal images and lastly, recording all the findings and keeping good track of the patients records.  

      There education and qualifications consist of having an associate’s degree, a bachelor’s degree or a certificate but employers prefer a degree or certificate from an accredited institute or hospital because they follow a specific course of study and include clinical training which you would have to pass an exam for it. Some choose to graduate with a degree in radiologic technology or nursing and then get on the job training by their employer but if you’re a high school student and interested in this career, you should consider taking classes like anatomy, physiology and mathematics. Aside from all of this, it is very important that you are detail oriented, have hand-eye coordination, interpersonal skills, stamina and technical skills. 

      Their salary may range depending on where you work from $62, 290 to $69, 740. Some obstacles you may face in achieving this career is the amount of time you actually put in to get to where you would like to be; this is no joke therefore you have to know and fully understand what it consist of.

      Helpful contacts that you can get more information on this career are  http://www.ardms.org/, https://www.arrt.org/, and http://www.jrcdms.org/ or http://www.caahep.org/. 

~ Natasha M Basurto~