Ultrasound technician training can result in a certificate, an associate’s degree or even a four-year degree. The level of education acquired is very dependent upon a student’s needs or ambitions for their career. After training, students may apply for any number of jobs within the health care field. Positions can be found at diagnostic imaging centers, doctor’s offices and hospitals. Diagnostic medical sonographer is another name used in the health care industry for an ultrasound technician. Training can be obtained from several different locations, which makes getting an education in this field fairly easy. Many community colleges, vocational schools and specialized technical schools offer programs just for ultrasound technicians. In addition, some websites provide online training with laboratory courses completed at local colleges. Four-year universities and colleges offer extensive programs for diagnostic medical sonographers. The Armed Forces provides their own sonography training and some hospitals have their own in house training as well.
It is common practice for students seeking ultrasound technician training to seek out specialized fields. Some students may focus their training efforts on specific subject matter such as ophthalmology, neurosonology or vascular technology. Echocardiography, gynecology, obstetrics, breast and abdomen sonography are additional areas for concentrated study. With stiff competition for jobs in today’s market students, raining in multiple specialties provides more job opportunities to students than training in only one specialized field of study.
Before a student gets into the specifics of ultrasound training, they must undergo general education classes for basic courses including, psychology, speech communication and English. Once the foundation is laid, they will continue on to prerequisite courses of physics, biology, physiology and anatomy. After successfully completing the prerequisites, they will advance into the sonography study of medical ethics and instrumentation for diagnostic medical sonography. Lastly, students take the courses for their specific field of interest. In addition to all these classes, students are required to complete clinical hours of hands-on training. This is where all the many hours of textbook training are applied and students learn the essential fieldwork required for new careers.