Because the health care field has expanded beyond the walls of the hospital, there are more career opportunities for sonographers this year 2013, and the coming 2014. The predicted boom of sonographer employment of 20,000 or so jobs between 2010 and 2020 doesn’t refer to ultrasound technicians alone. Sonographers can find a list of career choices in the research and academe sections of the profession.
Growth rate and sonography salary
The predicted growth rate of sonographer employment is at a whopping 45.3%, well above the nationwide average of 14% and the average of all health care occupations at 34%. In May 2012, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released a report that showed there were 57,700 sonographers employed who earned $31.90 mean hourly wage with a mean annual wage of $66,360. On average, sonographers earn just as much or even more than other health-care related occupations.
Responsibilities of a sonographer
A sonographer who works in the hospital is in charge of the sonogram. A sonogram is machine that can visualize the structures inside the human body and create images using sound waves. The sonographer interprets these images and makes formal medical reports based on them. The task run-down of sonographers is:
- Explaining the procedure
- Completing records – health histories
- Positioning patient for the procedure
- Operating the ultrasound equipment
- Produces and records images
- Analyzes images
- Makes medical reports and confers with physicians
Other career options/career paths
A sonographer can work as a diagnostic medical sonographer in the hospital or diagnostic laboratories, as an instructor or professor in the academe, or a sonographer researcher. Sonographers with flexible hours in the clinical setting can opt to teach and train students, and even pursue higher education to become a professor.
Sonographers in the academe are often researchers as well. Sonographers who work in research can either do laboratory and administrative work or field work. Administrative work usually focuses on research paper writing while sonographers in the lab work with other scientists in controlled experiments. Sonographers who choose to work in the field are responsible for data gathering and collection (click here for more details on similar professions).
Choosing a career in sonography doesn’t mean that the only jobs available are those in the hospital. The 20,000 added jobs in 2010 and 2020 can also mean employment opportunities in the academe and research. There are more possibilities for sonographers today, not confined to a list of career choices given in schools but expanding to the interests and abilities of the sonographer.
Visit http://www.ultrasoundtechniciancenter.org/ for more information about how to become an ultrasound technician in 2014.
Sonographers in the academe are often researchers as well. Sonographers who work in research can either do laboratory and administrative work or field work. Administrative work usually focuses on research paper writing while sonographers in the lab work with other scientists in controlled experiments. Sonographers who choose to work in the field are responsible for data gathering and collection (click here for more details on similar professions).
Choosing a career in sonography doesn’t mean that the only jobs available are those in the hospital. The 20,000 added jobs in 2010 and 2020 can also mean employment opportunities in the academe and research. There are more possibilities for sonographers today, not confined to a list of career choices given in schools but expanding to the interests and abilities of the sonographer.
Visit http://www.ultrasoundtechniciancenter.org/ for more information about how to become an ultrasound technician in 2014.