Somehow 2011 has come to an end, and what a great year this has been! NCUS has held two great symposiums providing education to our membership and opportunities to network with like-minded professionals. Our membership numbers have grown to 415, and on behalf of NCUS board of directors we would like to express heartfelt gratitude for everyone’s contribution in making this society successful and relevant. Please visit our Facebook page to continue networking with one another. We would also like to invite you to post HIPAA standard clinical questions or discussions on Facebook for additional information.

SEA Committee is asking for nominations for the 2012 Sonographer Excellence Award. Nominees must be a current NCUS member. Submission deadline is February 14th, 2012.

Winner will be announced and awarded at the NCUS Spring meeting.

Click here for the presentation on Testicular Retraction

How did you hear about Cape Fear Community College Diagnostic Medical Sonography program?
I made the choice to move into the healthcare field first. Once I made that choice, I started my research on CFCC’s website. The healthcare section of the site is a great resource for prospective students. The Sonography program in particular has a video that introduces the program from the point of view of former students. You are able to see the students in action, not in the classroom, but actually scanning in the lab. For many students, this is the first clue that this is not a standard classroom experience. The Cape Fear Sonography website also offers a wide range of resources for the hopeful ultrasound candidate. You can track your entrance requirements, read about the program, and contact the staff for help with anything else you might think of. The site was really my introduction to sonography as well as my introduction to the program.

So, you want to present an Echo Conference and, it being your first, you are not quite sure how to get started. It really is not difficult and if you follow just four easy steps, your first conference is bound to be a success.

The first thing you want to do is collect your cases. You are probably already keeping a record of cases you’ve done that you’ve shown to other Sonographers in your lab because they were of especially good technical quality or had something of interest. I have found that if I make a notation in my logbook each time I find interesting pathology, which makes case collection simple. Once you have identified the cases you wish to present – and I would suggest about four for your first conference - you might want to find corresponding cases to show as normals. That way, depending on your audience, you will be able to show the difference between normal and abnormal. For example, if several attendees at your conference are not cardiac Sonographers and are possibly registered nurses or physician assistants for example, they may not be familiar with echo, but because they are interested, have come to your conference. In these cases, I have found that selecting a normal for each abnormal and showing them as a pair, greatly enhances the experience for those not familiar with echo images.

Click here to view Sonography Associations and other helpful website links.

A clinic sends over a STAT Pelvic U/S for intense pain to R/O an ectopic pregancy.

Patient was at 37 weeks gestation!! What?! Are you serious?! HaHaHa!!

Diagnosis: 7 lb baby boy.