r/Sonographers

I have 7 months of experience working in OB/GYN. I've applied to every posting that's available in my city, general & specialty, and I haven't been getting any call backs & just a bunch of automated rejection emails or nothing at all.

Is the job market just bad, or is there anything I can do to stand out & get hired? It's incredibly frustrating not getting a single call back & just hit with automated messages. Ive been working a part-time job in the meantime, but it's not anything healthcare related.

Hello everyone! I took my ARDMS exam and failed by about 2 questions. I know you have to wait 60 days before you can retake the ARDMS exam. But I am curious and wanted to ask, is the CCI easier than the ARDMS?

FYI: I was using only URR to study for my ARDMS exam. I was scoring A's on all of the quizzes but unfortunately still failed.

I am having a hard time optimizing the color settings to make the color flow look smoother. My last hospital had their settings set so it didn't look so pixelated and rough, and for the life of me, I CAN NOT figure out how to optimize the settings at my new location to look similar. Any suggestions?

I’m a newer sonographer who recently returned from maternity leave. My director told me that one of our radiologists doesn’t want me scanning breast anymore because he feels I’m struggling. I wasn’t given any specific examples of what I’m doing wrong or what I need to improve.
This was especially discouraging because I previously found a biopsy-proven breast cancer. I recognized it was suspicious and brought it to the radiologist—I just mentioned it was my first real-life breast cancer case because I was still new. After that, I was taken off nights so I could get more breast experience.
Now I’ve been removed from breast exams altogether, but I’m still scanning every other modality. I’m studying outside of work and genuinely want to improve.
For those of you who’ve been in the field for a while: have you ever seen someone removed from one modality but kept their job? Is this usually viewed as additional training, or is it often a sign of more serious performance concerns? How would you interpret this if you were a lead tech, manager, or radiologist?

I have 5 months experience, and just got hired at a hospital. I’m night shift. The lead tech continues to nit pick at all of my scans, even down to how I push the machine. It’s like I can’t do anything right in her eyes but to the other techs, they say my scans are good. The radiologists haven’t complained either.

I’m so frustrated and this is only week 3 and I’m considering quitting. when I ask her if I’m missing pathology or imaging stuff wrong she says no but says it should be done her way, and that the radiologist might not like my images. It’s weird. I think she’s been a tech for 27 years, so of course my technique won’t be the same as hers.

And then when I look at everyone else’s scans, I actually give more detail than them! I really don’t want to quit because it’s a great hospital with great pay but I can’t take this nit picking. They knew I was a new grad in my interview and still hired me to work nights alone. So if SHE doesn’t like my scanning shouldn’t she have someone else on the shift with me? None of this is making sense.

I think I’ll give it another 2 weeks and I resign, before she can beat me to it since she wants me to scan like her.

Also, why do leads get so much say so? What’s the point of having a manager and supervisor if the lead dictates who works what shift, PTO request have to go thru her, etc

Passed my boards today and I am finally a registered tech. So excited and feels like a huge weight lifted off me.

Hello,
I am about to start my clinicals, and I made a trip from my home city to Seattle to shadow at a hospital. The point of this was to see if this was somewhere I will complete my clinicals and then get a job after.
The hospital was amazing. However, I had a really had time with the commute and traffic and the high expenses while I was there. I don’t think I can do my 17-week unpaid clinical there and make it work because I am expected to work at 4-5 different locations they have.
My question is, is anyone here happy with the city you are working in, and feel you are paid well? If you are, can you share what city you work in?

I believe I have an outdated Edelman book.. My book has nothing with PPV NPV sensitivity or specificity. Are there any good resources or could someone give me a quick rundown?

Hello, I am looking to apply for ardms certificate under this prerequisite and I have about 15 months of experience as a sonographer in Asia. I am able to get a CV form and a Letter of Experience from my former employer (as I am not working there now).

Does the experience have to be continuous or can be cumulative?

My experience is split between 11 months continuous and 4 months, gap of 3 months in between.

I’d appreciate a reference from ardms website or a personal experience similar to this.

I just passed my physics class with a B and I’m now preparing to take the SPI. What should I focus on the most? Are the questions as difficult as Prepry?

I just wanted to know if anyone gets massages done. I’ve been looking into them. I don’t wanna get injured so I wanna do everything I can to prevent it. I wanna know if they have helped you. What type of massage do you get? Do you think it helps reduce injury?

Does anyone have other suggestions?

Would you take a PRN job that’s 2 hours away from your house? I’m a new grad in a very saturated city, and I’m not sure if it would be worth renting a room since it’s only a PRN position.

Has anyone heard about a being a medical dosimetrist as a way to move upward or expand out of ultrasound? This is something I found related to a bachelor's program that required either ARRT or ARDMS. I believe there is also some post graduate work.

If you have heard of it, is this an achievable thing to go from sonography? What exactly do you do on the day to day and what kind of jobs can you get in this specific field?

(The program is AS to BS in Radiologic Sciences from Ohio State University for additional context.)

Really losing my hope getting hired as an echo tech! From south Florida and have been applying every where and there’s only per diem positions available and even there they need experience and some places have just been straight up rejecting the next day after I apply saying they went with someone else. I’m literally just losing my last hope and I’m not in a situation to move from here as well. Hope something good happens soon… how is my other fellow new grads doing find a job? Also people who already started working how long after you passed your boards did you get a job?

I take my ARDMS abdomen exam tomorrow. Anyone take it recently that knows main topics to focus on for my last day of studying! Anything helps. Been using MUT and doing really well on the mock exams, just worried about the curveball questions…

I am a new grad 2 months into my first US job at a breast clinic so we barely scan general. But my first abdomen complete took me 1hr20 minutes (I honestly think it’s because the person training me had to annotate every single thing, like kidney lat/mid/medial) but the second time took me 46min today because another tech told me not to do that. I still need to get faster but I feel more confident. 1st thyroid took me 32 minutes no pathology, now 25 minutes with pathology. 1st trans vaginal took 30min and most recent was 22min, 1st TA was 20 minutes, now 15 minutes.

Hey all I moved last November for a job to finally get out of the city that tried to leave for ever and a day but the job is nothing like what was alluded to, out maybe in my excitement I wanted it to be. I'm planning on leaving in November after my year is up and I don't have to pay back the relocation assistance. How far out do you look and apply for jobs?

I will be sitting for my abd board at the end of July, I have been reading the penny book but it just seems to not be working for me. I’m struggling getting through these long chapters and not really retaining that much information.

I also have the MUT study guide (not the quizzes) and the URR click to learns and mocks. Which is what I feel like helped me the most when studying for OB, but I have heard abdomen is significantly harder than OB so im wondering if that will be enough? Any other study tips for this board?

Hi everyone,
I’m looking for an ultrasound physics tutor to help me prepare for the SPI exam. I already passed all of my ultrasound physics classes in school, but it’s been a while, and I really need help reviewing the material and understanding the concepts well enough to pass the exam.
I have to pass the SPI before September, so I’m on a pretty strict deadline. Unfortunately, I’m currently unemployed because my clinical placement was delayed, so money is extremely tight right now. I can’t afford the rates that many professional tutors charge, but I’m hoping someone might be willing to work with me at a lower rate or knows of someone who would.
I’m not looking for anyone to do the work for me—I genuinely want to learn and I’m willing to put in the effort. I just need someone who can explain the concepts clearly, quiz me, and help me stay accountable.
If you’re an experienced sonographer, SPI tutor, or someone who recently passed the SPI and enjoys teaching, I’d really appreciate hearing from you. Even recommendations for affordable tutors or resources would mean a lot.
Thank you so much!

Hi everyone! I’m a new grad, and I have my first scanning interview this Friday. I haven’t scanned in about 2 months and I’m really nervous. Unfortunately, my school doesn’t allow graduates to come back and practice.
In the worst-case scenario, if I can’t find the CBD, pancreas, or a vessel during the scanning interview even after trying every technique that I know. What should I do? What should I say to the interviewer?