Why Do Sonographers Do What They Do?

The Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonography (SDMS) is a professional membership organization dedicated to promoting, advancing, and educating the medical community about the science of diagnostic medical sonography (also known as ultrasound technology). We found a short video from the SDMS that gives some of the reasons why sonographers do what they do. We thought we would share the video with you so here it is:

 

Here are some of the reasons that sonographers do what they do:
Samiksha, age 8 “A sonographer used a Doppler ultrasound to find a blood clot in my liver. Diagnosis: Many more soccer games with my brothers.”

Sharon, age 65 “I had no symptoms but a sonographer found my abdominal aortic aneurism. Diagnosis: More love and laughter with my grandchildren.

Mark, age 42 “A sonographer found my blocked carotid artery before it caused a stroke. Diagnosis: Many more days fishing with my son.

Isabella, age 1 month “A sonographer found my congenital heart defect during my very first sonogram. Diagnosis: A lifetime of health and happiness.”

People who decide to become diagnostic medical sonographers do so because they have a genuine interest in helping people maintain or regain their health. If you live in the Santa Clara area and you too want a career where you get to help people every day, you should consider enrolling in the Diagnostic Medical Sonographer/Ultrasound Technician program at IBT. You can complete the program in as little as 18 months. That means in a little over a year you can have all the training you need to land an entry-level position where you can change the lives of people every day.

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Is Going Back To School In Your Future?

We get it–you hated high school.

 

The classes were boring (another lecture about the Pythagorean theorem?), impractical (why do I need to memorize the periodic table when I can just Google it?), and far from applicable to your daily life (how is knowing who the 15th US president was going to land me a date let alone a job?).

 

But, if you hated high school so much, why would you ever consider going back to school now?

 

Because IBT is NOT like high school!

 

At IBT you won’t waste your time taking classes like AP Poetry and Introduction to Victorian Literature. Besides, what good are those classes going to do when you’re training to become a medical assistant, a massage therapist, an electrician or an HVAC technician?

 

That’s right, NONE.

 

At IBT, our classes are focused on one thing: teaching you the skills you need to excel in your career.

 

That’s right. At IBT, there are no General Education course requirements. You will never have to worry about wasting your time and your money taking Introduction to Astronomy when you are studying to become a lab assistant.

 

Instead, if you are studying to become……

 

• An Ultrasound Technician you will take our Human Anatomy & Physiology course
• An Electrician you will take classes like our Basic Commercial Wiring course

• An HVAC Technician you will take classes like our Commercial/Residential Air Conditioning and Heating Pumps course
• A Massage Therapist you will take classes like our Fundamentals of Massage Therapy course
• A Building and Maintenance Facilities Technician you will take classes like our Green Building Technology course

 

So, if you are skeptical about going back to school because you hated high school, we totally get it. HOWEVER, that is no reason to give up on school entirely! Especially because IBT is very different from high school. At IBT…

 

• Classes are career-oriented
• Instruction is hands-on
• There are no “fluff” classes that will waste your time, money and energy
• We are dedicated to the success of its students and graduates

 

Just because you hated high school doesn’t mean you should give up on school entirely! At IBT we do things differently. At IBT in Santa Clara, we are dedicated to YOU and YOUR FUTURE!

 

Learn more about the rewarding career paths you can pursue with an education from IBT.

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Why Choose A Career In The Silicon Valley?

The Institute for Business and Technology is located in The Silicon Valley, which is home to tech giants Facebook, Apple and Google. The Silicon Valley is the heart of high-tech innovation and development and one third of the nation’s venture capital investment happens here.

 

The Silicon Valley is most famous for information technology, and startup companies, but that’s not all that can be accomplished in the Bay Area! Alternatives to employment in the tech industry can be found on campuses like our own. Career colleges in the Silicon Valley prepare people for a range of careers, so you can live in the midst of the tech boom without a tech career!

 

So Why Choose a Career College in the Silicon Valley?

 

1. Career schools focus on hands-on learning and career readiness. If engineering, programming, and statistics are not your thing, but the South Bay is totally your thing, consider training at a career college.
2. Keep in mind the tech boom necessarily mandates a boom in other industries. For example, an explosion in new office buildings requires more HVAC technicians to service those buildings. A population boom means more hospitals, which results in employment growth in other sectors like phlebotomy, and medical assisting.
3. While the tech boom thrives, there are some jobs that cannot be technologized. For instance, massage therapists cannot be replaced by computers, but individuals who work on computers all day may require more appointments with their massage therapists!

 

If you’re looking for colleges in the Silicon Valley to pursue a rewarding career path, consider trade schools like ours! At IBT we prepare students for careers as electricians, HVAC/R techs, lab assistants, EKG technicians, phlebotomists, medical assistants, medical biller/coders, office assistants, and massage therapists.

 

Call IBT today to discover all of the Silicon Valley’s career possibilities.

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Financing Your Education

It’s back to school season again! Will this be the year you take the leap and make a positive decision for your future by going back to school and getting trained for a new, rewarding career?

 

At IBT, our job is to help students achieve their goals, so we’ve put together a mini quiz to determine if you’re ready to make a change that could mean going back to school!

 

1. Are you tired of your current situation?
   1. Yes
   2. No

 

1. Are you interested in learning new skills and meeting new people?
   1. Yes
   2. No

 

1. Is your current financial situation holding you back from making positive changes in your life?
   1. Yes
   2. No

 

1. Do you feel like you have untapped potential?
   1. Yes
   2. No

 

1. Would a learning marketable skill improve your self-esteem?
   1. Yes
   2. No

 

Are you surprised by how many yeses you circled? We aren’t! Many of our students at IBT enroll in one of our accredited hands-on training programs for these very reasons. They are tired of their current situation, they want to learn a new skill and meet new people, they know they can succeed if given the opportunity to, and they feel unskilled and therefore unvalued in the community. However, what many of our students don’t know at first is that they can apply for financial aid to study at IBT in Santa Clara!

 

This video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vam6ggRjjF4 explains some of the sources of financial aid available for education. So if you are considering going back to school, we suggest you watch this video full of tips on how to find money for college.

 

If you don’t have time to watch the video, we’ve summarized it for you here:

 

Grants and scholarships come from a number of sources including:

 

1. Government
2. Private Sources
3. Colleges
4. Businesses

 

It is important you find and apply for as many grants and scholarships as possible! Sources you should look into include:

 

1. City, county and federal government.
2. Websites including fastweb.com and scholarships.com help students customize searches for scholarships they may be eligible for.
3. Specific colleges and programs sometimes offer scholarships.
4. Places of employment, including McDonalds, Walmart, Burger King and UPS among others provide scholarships to employees.

 

While this video is a great resource to start with, we would like to add a few other suggestions:

 

1. Start early, stay persistent, and consider asking community organizations, banks and business in your community if they offer scholarships.
2. Make a list of your unique qualities such as your heritage, financial background, disability, disadvantage, sports achievements, or where you grew up. Many scholarships are looking for specific student profiles and that may be you!
3. Consult with the financial aid department at IBT for additional assistance.

 

Make this year your best year yet by going back to school and getting trained for a rewarding new career! Call IBT today to discuss program start dates, our accredited career-training, and financial aid opportunities.

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Ultrasound technician training programs are right for you

You can be educated by ultrasound technician schools in an essential area of today's healthcare system. Doctors can't diagnose their patients without strong evidence of sickness or other medical conditions. Nor can they easily track the progression of specific ailments or ascertain the status of some pregnancies unless they're capable to see what is occurring inside their patients' bodies.

Although surgical procedures and x ray technologies are useful for a few of these functions, they can also be dangerous and expensive to patients. That is why sonography is a popular option for safely and non- viewing the internal anatomy of medical patients. And that is also why it's become this kind of popular career choice among those desiring to enter the area of health care.

Along with performing ultrasounds, technicians are responsible for managing other administrative tasks required before and after procedures, including updating records and preparing reports. With proper training, you could work in hospitals, practices, outpatient centers, and more!

Have a look at the ultrasound technology schools in your area and request more info from those that interest you. By using some of the most fascinating technology around pretty soon, you could be helping medical patients.

Ultrasound Tech and Sonography FAQ

What exactly is Sonography?

In the health care field, sonography (also sometimes called "ultrasonography") is the procedure for sending pulses of high frequency sound into a specific region of a patient's body, capturing the echoes as the sound bounces back, and interpreting the resulting pictures an ultrasound machine creates and displays on-screen.

It captures the echoes and emits the sound waves.

Three Main Areas

Diagnostic Medical Sonography—Normally includes sub-specialties that include stomach, neurologic, breast, obstetric/gynecologic, or small-components sonography
Diagnostic Cardiac Sonography—Also called.
Vascular Sonography—Used to analyze a patient's blood vessels
What are the Different Job Titles?

There is no difference. Actually, depending on their location of employment and particular region of practice, they can also have job titles such as:

Diagnostic medical sonographer
Ultrasound technologist
Ultrasound tech
Ultrasonographer
Diagnostic cardiac sonographer
Cardiac sonographer
Echocardiographic tech
Vascular sonographer
What are the Occupation Responsibilities?

Sonographers use particular equipment to produce and record pictures showing the shape, movement, and makeup of a sick patient's internal anatomy, which can comprise blood and other bodily tissues, organs, unusual masses, and fluid collections. They usually have obligations such as:

Before the Test

Preparing and maintaining imaging equipment
Correctly recording a patient's medical history
Describing procedures to a patient and answering any questions
Transferring a patient to an examination table that is appropriate and placing her or him correctly for the process
Scrubbing a patient's skin in the place to be analyzed
Applying gel that assists the ability of sound waves to show the inside of a patient's body
During the Examination

Making necessary adjustments to equipment during an examination in order to produce the finest images for the use of a physician in diagnosis
Changing the position of a patient to get the best angle
Assessing pictures for quality
Identifying any differences between normal and abnormal regions
Deciding whether or not to widen the range of an exam based on initial findings
After the Exam

Maintaining detailed patient records
Sub-specialties

The special areas of patient physiology that sonographers analyze depend on their preferred sub-specialties, which can comprise:

Stomach—anything in the belly area, including nearby organs
Breast— tumors and breast tissue
Neurologic— nervous system and the brain
Obstetric/gynecologic— the female reproductive system and pregnancies
Musculoskeletal— muscles, ligaments, joints, and tendons
Cardiac—the heart
Vascular—blood vessels

What are the Most Common Workplaces?

They mainly work in hospitals, but they can also be found in:

Doctors' offices
Diagnostic lab's
Outpatient care centres that are medical
Their work environment is typically a room dedicated to medical imaging. Nevertheless, they are also occasionally called to perform examinations at patient bedsides.

What are the Requirements I Should Know About?

The demands you should be aware of before working in sonography are fairly straightforward. Here are the important points to bear in mind about the credentials you'll want:

School

A formal post-secondary education is normally needed.
Associate's degrees are possessed by most technologists from the successful completion of a diagnostic medical sonography program. (You should notice that diagnostic cardiac sonography and vascular sonography systems are usually different.)
It's also possible to earn a bachelor's degree in this subject. In addition, certification and diploma programs also exist, but they're generally meant for people who already possess a degree in a related health care area.
Employers in this field normally choose to hire people with professional certification.
Some states require licensure. Requirements vary from state to state, although this usually requires professional certification.
Here is what you ought to know about professional certification:

Know the Organizations

Select Your Sub-specialties

If you select to become certified through the ARDMS, you will get to pick one or more sub-specialties to be analyzed on. As an RDMS, for instance, you can be certified in one or more of the following places: Abdomen (AB), Breast (BR), Fetal Echocardiography (FE), Neurosonology (NE), or Obstetrics and Gynecology (OB/GYN).
Pass the Assessments and Remain Certified

In order to become certified, you must match several fundamental prerequisite requirements (such as having a relevant degree), then you'll have to pass one or more assessments.
Remaining professionally certified necessitates ongoing continuing education.
These with at least three to five years of full-time experience can advance to director of an ultrasound department or the job of a lead sonographer. Others choose to become traveling sonographers and work for brief stints, in different places around the country, on a contract basis.

Become professionals like and some choose to leave the clinical surroundings:

Health Care advisers
Medical equipment manufacturing advisers
Teachers
What exactly is the Typical Wages?

Wages for this occupation depends a lot on geographical location, type of employer, part time or full time status, and degree of experience. Generally the typical sonography wages supplies a superb living. Actually, ultrasound technicians have one of the highest paying occupations of America without a degree requiring more than about two years of school.

Based on national estimates from May 2015, annual wages that are typical break down this manner: *

Median wages were $68,970.
The highest-earning 10 percent made or more. $97,390
What is the Occupation Outlook?

The job outlook is bright.

Much of the growth is due to the fact that ultrasound technology is increasingly being viewed as a good alternative to more expensive and invasive diagnostic procedures. It's also being used in more and more doctors' offices, diagnostic labs, and outpatient care settings.

Seasoned professionals who maintain certification in multiple sub-specialties will continue to have the best job prospects.

Can You Tell Me How to Start in this Field?

Successfully completing a diploma or associate's degree program followed by taking and passing professional certification exams from the American Registry for Diagnostic Medical Sonography (ARDMS) or the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists (ARRT)
Getting a bachelor's degree, followed by taking and passing the appropriate certification examinations
Graduating from a two-year health education program associated with patient care, followed by at least 12 months of full time clinical expertise in sonography, followed by taking and passing the assessments that are necessary from the ARDMS
How Long are Most Programs?

The answer to this question depends on the kind of the qualification you want to graduate as well as school you want to attend with. Plus, some schools may have a few course prerequisites to meet before you can begin.

Diploma and associate degree programs are the most common and generally take from 18 to 24 months to complete. Of course, if your school needs any prerequisites, then you may be looking at up to an additional one to two years before you begin the main program. Not all schools have such requirements, though, so it is a good idea to assess when comparing programs.

Bachelor's degree programs are generally designed to last about four years.

Then you may have the choice to take a shorter degree or certificate program, which typically lasts if you have a degree in a related healthcare field.

What Can I Learn in Ultrasound Technician School?
Accredited programs in diagnostic medical sonography change a bit in the construction of their course prerequisites and curriculums, but they typically include subject areas for example:

General Areas

Mathematics
Verbal and written communications
General human behavior and psychology
Basic physics
Medical Basics

General physiology and human anatomy
Medical terminology
Cross-sectional anatomy
Medical ethics and law
Patient care
Ultrasound-Related Fundamentals

Pathophysiology
Abdominal techniques
Obstetrical techniques
Gynecological techniques
Small parts techniques
Along with the classroom parts that are preceding, accredited programs additionally include one or more clinical practicums in real world ultrasound work settings.

 

 

How To Become An Ultrasound Technician In San Jose CA

How to become an ultrasound technician? This is the question that many students ponder about. The ultrasound technology is now widely used in medical field as it can point out many illnesses compared to other diagnosis. The defects of internal organs cannot be found by external examination in many cases. That is what made ultrasound technology so popular. Ultrasound technology schools in San Jose are now an essential part in all fields from human body to astronomy. The technology itself has paved way for many other discoveries. An ultrasound technician also known as sonographer carries out tests with the help of ultrasound. Sonography or ultrasonography is using the sound waves for imaging. High energy sound waves are passed to human body which helps in photographing internal organs. Digital Medical Sonographers in San Jose, CA examine the images and make notes. They then consult physicians and finally the doctors conclude the mode of treatment for the patients. This test can be done in acute and severe cases alike.

The internal images of female reproductive organs are taken mainly by ultrasound technologists. Sonography can identify whether a lady is expecting, the position of the fetus and if there is problems involved in delivery. The technology of ultrasound is also used to photograph other internal organs such as kidneys, liver, pancreas and other abdominal parts. A person handling ultrasound can earn from $50,000 to $65,000 annually. Usually, the work duration is 8 hours a day making it 40 hours a week with two days off. The salary rate can vary depending on the skill, experience and circumstances. Sometimes, he may have to work overtime and must accommodate working in the rotating shifts including 24×7 shifts. They can either work on a contract basis in different medical centers or permanently in a single hospital depending on your schedule. They can also work as part timers teaching in ultrasound technician schools.

Numerous colleges in San Jose, CA offer ultrasound technician training. There are courses of duration 2 years and 4 years. When you complete the training from vocational schools, community colleges and ultrasound technician schools, you will receive associate degree for 2 years and bachelor degree for 4 years. A sound knowledge in science is essential to join these courses as physics is necessary to know to handle instruments and biology to identify the internal organs. The certified program includes the subjects like patient care, medical ethics, anatomy, basic physic, physiology. There are also online schools giving ultrasound technology coaching. These online ultrasound technician programs in San Jose help the students to get certifications by conducting examinations in ultrasound technology.

A person will easily get a job in ultrasound technology even without a certificate. The certificate of an individual can indicate his professional status and skills. For salary purposes and better job, it is a requirement from the employer. A trained and certified sonographer can demand better salary and will surely get a much higher status compared to those who do not have a certificate to prove that they are eligible to work.

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Diagnostic Ultrasound Technician In San Jose CA

Sound waves with a frequency above the range of human hearing are known as ultrasound. Sonography is used to produce images of internal body structures like muscles, ligaments, joints and internal organs to determine possible damage or disease. The most common application of ultrasound diagnostic imaging is for producing images of the uterus of a pregnant woman. Sonography is widely used for many other diagnostic and therapeutic procedures in medicine. A diagnostic ultrasound technician in San Jose is a medical professional who performs scans for diagnosis. Also known as sonographers they use a transducer to focus the ultrasound waves on the required part of the body to obtain images. To aid the transmission of sound waves sonographers utilize a special gel which is spread on the part that is examined.

When it comes to specialization there are four different options available for a diagnostic ultrasound technician in San Jose CA. They will learn all the aspects required for specialization during their training, but will begin specializing only after completing the course and report for work. Obstetrics and gynecological specialists carry out the process of imaging the womb of a pregnant woman so that the doctors get an idea of the health of the growing fetus. Ultrasound scanning is also made use of to locate abnormal growths like tumors in the reproductive system of females. Scanning of the abdominal area for diagnosing health problems related to pancreas, kidneys, liver and spleen etc are done by technicians who specialize in the abdominal area. There are also other types of specializations that one can choose to undertake.

An ultrasound technician is a popular career choice in the medical industry in San Jose. It is not the easiest of jobs but pays really well. As a sonographer you have to capable of interacting suitably with the patients and also to produce clear results that will make it easy for the doctors to realize a conclusive diagnosis. You have to be certified to be employed as a diagnostic ultrasound technician. There are a lot of certified ultrasound technician programs to help you to commence your career as a sonographer. There are also online ultrasound technician courses in San Jose, which can be a favorable option.

An ultrasound technician program in San Jose is mainly for the purpose of training you with the necessary tricks of the trade. The certificate is only a proof to the fact that you have received formal training. Without being a member of ARDMS it does not guarantee a job. Typically employers would prefer technicians with a bachelor’s or associate’s degree. Being registered with ARDMS can always be an advantage that will put you ahead of others. During the San Jose ultrasound technician training program the students will learn how to prepare a patient for ultrasound diagnosis, operate the instrument and to get conclusive results. Effective communication is also necessary for being successful in this job as you have to be pleasant with the patients and make them understand what you are doing.

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