Before embarking on the educational journey of becoming a sonographer/ultrasound technician it can help to get a general idea of the topics covered in ultrasound technician courses. Whether you’re a high school student or someone at some level of continuing education it doesn’t hurt to have some background in math, science, and biology before you enroll in an ultrasound course, and beyond this just to know what you’re getting into. Here are some topics and areas that are usually covered in these courses of study.
Principles of ultrasound technology
One of the nice things about this field is that it is not only medically based, but draws a lot on physics as well. Ultrasound technician courses thus cover the physical principles that underlie ultrasound and sonography. Ultrasound technology is based on the same principles used by submarines and even bats – that of sonic reflection. Sound is basically a pressure wave that moves through various media – from air to water to solids. When these pressures waves hit a barrier they are reflected back in the same way that when you shout in a large space you hear an echo. These echoes, when closely analyzed, reveal a lot of information about the substances they bounce off, and that information can even be made into a visual image. Interesting, hunh?
This area also includes the way ultrasound affects the body and ways to use it safely. Properly used ultrasound is a safe procedure, but it must be understood in depth in order to be used responsibly.
General Physics
In order to understand principles such as the above, a more general understanding of physics is helpful. So many programs also offer general physics courses as part of their curriculum. These will, of course, vary in depth and scope depending on the length of the program and the school.
Medical Ethics/ Medical Law
This is a whole different side to sonography and the allied health industry in general. It must be included in any reputable program because there are laws and ethical codes in the field that are very important to uphold.
Anatomy and Physiology
This area is obviously essential to the field of sonography. If you’re going to be using sound to go in and image or treat various parts of the body, you’re going to have to know the human body pretty well. Sonographers have to know what they are looking at and how to interpret ultrasound data in the context of a human physical system, so a study of anatomy and physiology comprises a large part of ultrasound technician courses.
Use of Ultrasound Equipment
For equally obvious reasons this is also a large part of the curriculum. This involves not only the actual use of ultrasound equipment, but also their care, maintenance, storage, transportation, and so on.
Care of Patients
This would be a more generalized coverage of patient care as a field – its general principles and how it applies in the specific cases of ultrasound procedures. Professionalism in this field involves more than just the performance of the actual ultrasound scans or treatments – it involves making patients feel at home and the continued care that follow the actual procedures.
These are a few of the areas you’ll encounter in ultrasound technician courses. Any comprehensive should include these areas at the very least. Make sure the program you’re considering includes these subjects and, better yet, that it is accredited. This is an interesting but demanding field and you need to be sure that you’