Ultrasonography Recently Had the Opportunity

Ultrasonography recently had the opportunity to act as a delegate to the Austrian Health Service, working in their Ultrasound department. As a radiographer from the United Kingdom, I felt this was a wonderful opportunity for me to see how things are done in other places. I took this as an opportunity to learn and compare how we do things at home as compared to other places. There were several issues which came up that I would like to discuss.

After five weeks of training with only x-ray as my back ground, I am happy to report that my experience in the ultrasonography department was very satisfactory. I found their technique to be effective, their work precise. I also felt that they had a more laid back work environment than perhaps I was used to. I worked at several different sites, including a women and children's site, a district site and at a general hospital. It was my experience that each area was very interesting and enlightening, but I would have to say that I found the work in the women's and children's area, especially the work with the pregnant women, to be the most emotionally taxing due to the high stress experienced from worried parents. This cannot help but be telegraphed to the ultrasonographer.

A found it very interesting that one experienced sonographer felt that when placing gel on a patient for a kidney examination, the left kidney tended to be more sensitive to the temperature of the gel than the other wise. While the sonographer stated this as fact, I would think it would require a little more research before I could definitely say it was so, and thus far I have not been able to find any physiological documentation which would support this assertion.

A found it interesting that at all the practice sites; they eschewed the use of paper in favor of linen gowns and sheets. When I questioned this practice, I was told that it was done mostly out of a fear of MRSA being spread from patient to patient. I wondered about this, because it would seem to me that the use of disposable linens would definitely reduce the incidence of MRSA and save the cost of laundering the linens. This was definitely a different practice that what I was used to.

All in all I found the sonographers to be a very competent bunch. They appear to be extremely technically proficient and know what they are doing. It also appears that this field is held in high regard by the physicians who will even speak to the sonographer about the results of the scan or consult with them on different views or tests which may be more helpful in making the diagnosis with a patient.