Allied Health
Sonography
Who is a Sonographer?
- A professional who works directly with patients in performing sonographic diagnostic procedures.
- A professional who performs diagnostic procedures/tests (tests that are non-invasive, without puncturing or performing incisions on a patient).
- A professional who provides physicians with medical diagnostic information on the structure and function of the area of the body in question.
What is the nature of their work, what do they do?
- Perform diagnostic tests such as ultrasounds, and imaging.
- Work with sophisticated, manually operated equipment outside of a patient's body to discover what is happening inside their body.
Where do they work? Where are job opportunities available?
- Many opportunities are available throughout the United States for experienced and qualified individuals.
- Clinics, mobile health services, physician's offices, and hospitals have open positions.
- Medical industry companies also offer work in research and development, sales and marketing, which provide opportunities for international travel.
What is the basic curriculum for a degree in Sonography?
- A college level diploma in the applied science field.
- On year pre-requisites with curriculum focus in anatomy, physiology, and math.
- Advanced courses on specific methods of diagnostic procedures, and disease entities.
How would I learn this? What methods are used to teach students?
- Accredited schools that offer Associate or Bachelor Degrees require you to participate in lecture, lab, clinical and didactic settings.
- Normal course work includes a minimum of one year of didactic lectures and class work, followed by an internship in the different diagnostic procedure settings.
- Be careful choosing your school. CAAHEP accredited programs may be required for certification. Jackson Community College Sonography programs are accredited and listed on CAAHEP. For more information, go to www.caahep.org or the website for ARDMS at www.ardms.org.
What could I make in this line of work?
- The median salary for a sonographer in the U.S. in 2004 was $50,000-$80,000 (depending on geographic location).
