03/10/2024
💫October is Medical Ultrasound Awareness Month💫
We are highly trained and experienced sonographers and echocardiographers. We are part of your diagnosis/prognosis and treatment. Sonography and echocardiography are 100% user dependent. The probes on the machine are guided only by our hands. We obtain images, velocities, measurements, and so much more! If we find something wrong, we have to know how to image that finding and how it fits into the puzzle, so that we know what to look for and where to look next.
We always hear, “Your job looks easy.” We just make it look easy. Or patients will say, “She just takes the pictures, she doesn’t know what she’s looking at.” I know EXACTLY what I am looking at. Yes, we are not allowed to diagnose, but we know. We are taught to have a poker face. I knew that mass I found weeks ago on a patient was cancer before the pathology report even came back. I know that all those gallbladder stones I just found are what’s causing your pain and that you’ll be headed to surgery within the next few weeks to get it removed. I knew that baby didn’t have a heartbeat the second I put the probe down. I knew that pancreatic mass I found was just the start of a downhill battle for that patient. I knew that the pain and swelling in your leg is a clot (DVT). I know if there is damage to your heart or heart valves. It takes everything in me not to break down when I see life altering pathology.
Sonography is steadily overlooked in terms of job related injuries. But I bet you didn’t know that sonographers have a 90% risk of muskuloskeletal disorders. We are bent over….sideways, backwards, every which way and standing awkwardly to be able to get the best images. We do this because we love what we do. We think ultrasound is fascinating. We do this because we enjoy being a part of patient care. We make a difference.
We are only with patients for a short time, their stories stay with us forever. Thank your sonographers and echocardiographers. Take a second to tell them they made a difference for you or a family member. I promise it makes all the difference, and pulls us right back to the reality of the importance of our work.
Happy Medical Ultrasound Awareness Month to my fellow sonographers and echocardiographers!
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