For those of you in the field of ultrasound, listen up. For those of you that have absolutely nothing to do with ultrasound, listen up ….you will learn valuable insight into the challenges this type of job entails, which may be useful if you yourself are on the other side of that transducer (device we hold in our hand to obtain an ultrasound image). The latter part of the previous statement I say, because it is beneficial information that our patients understand why they may need to wait in the waiting room for their ultrasound. Ultrasound offers challenges…challenges that are often beyond our control as the sonographer. Unlike other imaging fields, we are the ones holding, and more specifically, controlling, that magical device in our hand that ultimately creates the image you see on the screen. That image is a single paper thin “slice” of anatomy, whether vertical or horizontal, in your body. If we do not know to move fully through an entire organ, something can be missed. Furthermore, if we do not recognize that something is abnormal (and what the abnormality actually is), we may not realize to take other relevant images that will aid the doctor in the diagnosis. The doctors therefore rely on the sonographer to do their job, to do it well, and to relay to them what we see and our input as to what we think is wrong with the patient (what the abnormality is). It can be frustrating therefore when patients (or even in some cases, those in other professions) think the machine is doing all the hard work and that we are just trained how to use it as glorified photographers. Or, falsely think that we can carry on full conversations during the ultrasound and not have to put our brains into what we are doing. To those on the outside, they may not fully understand the depth of one’s expertise in not just operating the equipment, but with their level of knowledge of the human body and pathology, which is critical in this line of work. Another huge challenge in the field is the 90% injury rate among sonographers, often to their wrist or shoulder, partly because of chasing a baby within the womb and having their wrist get into some awkward, prolonged positions, or partly to have to apply more force to obtain a diagnoseable image from a higher BMI patient. But one of the biggest and most frustrating challenges of the job, is performing the ultrasound in the timeframe that the patient is scheduled for and therefore, running on time. For me, it is the most stressful aspect of my job. More stress causes more tension in our body. More tension causes more pain… a vicious cycle. This challenge is only further compounded when you are doing an ultrasound on a fetus (a patient within a patient that will not hold still and you have zero control over). I personally like to enlighten my patients to this struggle we as sonographers all face (realizing when they have to wait, it is usually the result of an uncooperative baby earlier in the schedule). If you are like me, probably a little bit OCD about perfection by obtaining the best possible image and putting quality over quantity in every patient you see, then this is a serious challenge and frustration within your job. So for anyone reading this that is NOT the sonographer, but is actually the patient, please keep that in mind when you are sitting in the waiting room and the sonographer may be running behind. Especially with OB ultrasounds, due to the challenges mentioned above, but certainly also with all other ultrasounds due to BMI difficulties (as sound waves do not penetrate as effectively through adipose tissue which causes a sonographer to apply more pressure to obtain an image that provides useful information for the doctor to diagnose from), scar tissue from prior surgeries, etc.
If you are a sonographer wondering if travel ultrasound is for you, this aforementioned obstacle will exist whether you travel for your job or not. However there are other considerations that you may not have thought of. Yes, travel sonography can be a lucrative job, however bear in mind that with the higher pay comes some “cons” that you may not otherwise have. You need to be prepared for the loneliness that can happen when you spend so much of your time away from your friends and family. I highly encourage you to make friends when possible with people you meet on the job or to at least maintain contact on the road with the people in your life who will be there for you and support you by keeping an open line of communication with you. The same people that care about you whether you are right there beside them or miles away. The other con is the annual tests your agency administers – both relevant to your field and some that are not. In addition to agency tests, the facility you will be working at will require you in most cases to do anywhere from 1 – 3 days on average of orientation modules on everything from HIPPA to hospital security and everything in between. Every 13 weeks (or when your contract is up, depending on if you take a shorter assignment or you extend longer – which can be worth it to minimize the frequency of some of these cons), you will be required to go for a drug test and a physical exam, at bare minimum, depending on the requirements of the facility you are about to work in.
As a travel sonographer, learning to be flexible and moreso, adaptable, is critical. It can be very frustrating when you end up in a facility that does things completely the opposite from everything you have ever known or from every other facility you have experienced. But the harsh reality is, that although you are employed by the agency that placed you in this job, you are physically on the job working for the particular facility that offered you the assignment and are required to do things “their way”, whether right or wrong in your own mind. This can be difficult, especially in cases where you may not agree with it. A certain amount of humility is required to be a travel sonographer in that sense (aka “bite your tongue”). You have to be ok with making acquaintances and friendships wherever you go, and then leaving them behind. Hopefully however, some of these will be strong enough that you will have exchanged personal info to keep in touch. In which case, you can check off one of the “pros” of travel sonography, which is to make some new friends along the way. The same happens when you live somewhere for a period of time. Although not a physical person, which is harder to leave, it can be hard to leave an area that you have created memories for yourself, whether solo memories or memories with others. Nonetheless you created ties to that area, and that can be hard to let go of, and together with the friendships forged that you have to leave behind every 13 weeks or more, that can be one of the hardest parts of a job in the travel sonography industry. This often is so intense of an emotion, it brings me to tears at times when I’ve had a great experience. A wise and knowledgeable friend reassured me that that is nothing to be ashamed of, it just shows that it meant something to you, which is not a bad thing. In hindsight, I have to agree (but still hate when I have to go through the painful emotions nonetheless).
Enough about the bad stuff…by now you are probably asking yourself, well if there are all those cons, why do you do it? What makes this job worth sticking it out over the long haul? For starters, there is the paycheck. That is the obvious, and a good portion of your check is tax free to boot. Another reason is because you get to travel and see the country while getting paid to do so. If you are a travel fanatic like I am (used to work in the travel industry directly for the same reason), then it’s a no-brainer. Granted most of your week is spent like everyone else working Monday through Friday making a living, but in your down time, especially on your weekends off, you are free to explore. And you should. Anyone that does this and doesn’t explore is shortchanging themselves from the side benefit this job has to offer. Life is too short to not explore when you can, to meet people, or to learn something new. All of these things are things you get out of a job in this industry. Every job I take, I have met a bunch of people and some of those people I will stay in touch with into the future. It’s great meeting people from all over this country and inevitably makes this country feel smaller as a result. Whether it’s your recruiter on the other side of the country, or a former coworker, these friendships are valuable and meaningful, and in and of themselves offer a huge reward to this job. But it’s also what they have to offer you. Whether it be wisdom and perspective, enlightening you in the ever changing field of sonography, showing you a different way to do things (thinking outside the box) or just broadening your knowledge by being around someone with a different skill set and in a different environment than you have been for the past decade or more, people are everything. I can honestly say I have grown so much in my field by experiencing different facilities and meeting different people throughout this country. As for the loneliness con – that’s a hard one to overcome. I still struggle with it. But the suggestions above can be helpful and when you can get together with your friends and loved ones, whether it is you going home to them or them coming to you and exploring the area you are in together with you, it is amazing and you learn to be more appreciative of the time you have in this life with each and every one of them. And although you do not get paid for time away from work, whether it be sick time, vacation time, holidays or bereavement time even, it is wise to bank some of the money you make to ride you through these financial droughts, so that when you are off and not getting a paycheck, you can make do. I encourage anyone in this field to not jump from one job assignment to the next without taking off at least a couple weeks in between to spend time bonding and making memories with those you hold dear. You owe it to your own mental sanity and your loved ones, to do that much.
So, for anyone on the fence about whether to take the plunge and move forward with a job in this field, I say do it! You likely won’t regret it, as the pros far outweigh the cons. Knowledge is power, just know what you are getting yourself into!