Sonographer Communication Skills

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Sonographers produce critical diagnostic information for care providers across many disciplines using high frequencies called ultrasounds. Every day, these professionals make autonomous decisions that affect the patient outcomes, while exhibiting competence and knowledge in their given fields.

Many employers require sonographers to earn discipline specific certification. However, all sonographers should possess the following eight core competencies.

One: Communication Skills

Sonographers must build rapport with patients during scans and relay important information to colleagues. [1] Therefore, these medical professionals communicate in way that patients and peers can understand; these specialists explain examination procedures to patients,
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However, they can avoid this threat by maintaining their endurance and physical condition. [2] Most sonographers experience high to reasonably high physical work demands. Additionally, they spend most of the day performing repetitive motions. Therefore, ergonomic literacy plays an important role in job satisfaction. As a result, the Journal of Diagnostic Medical Sonography outlines best practices that these professional follow to prevent workplace injuries.

Four: Consideration and Understanding of Patients

Sonographers must evaluate consumer needs and maintain quality standards, while providing topnotch customer service. [2] Using knowledge of consumer behavior and motivation, the practitioners assess client abilities and personalities. While administering diagnostics, sonographers practice active listening and patience to offer effective personal assistance and emotional support.

Five: Hand-eye Coordination

A typical sonographer’s workday primarily consists of handing and controlling equipment and tools. During the imaging procedure, sonographers must maintain steady hands and arms while still or moving and possess the ability to make rapid, repeated, and accurate equipment adjustments throughout the day with few breaks. Sonographers must also possess sufficient natural or corrected close range
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[4] While no patient has suffered injury from an ultrasound procedure to date, ultrasounds have produced negative health outcomes in mice during laboratory tests. Due to equipment innovations and increased use, ultrasound experts have increasing concern about this issue, especially obstetrics practitioners. Over the last thirty years, the US Food and Drug Administration has allowed care providers to use increasingly powerful ultrasound equipment. As a result, legislators now require sonographers to use the lowest scan power and shortest time needed to acquire optimal image results, a practice called As Low As Reasonably Achievable (ALARA) typically associated with