Ultrasound doctor: what education is needed to work in this specialty

An ultrasound doctor diagnoses pathologies of internal organs and tissues using ultrasound. Some areas of medicine use ultrasound to control the flow of internal processes in the body. For example, they do an ultrasound scan for pregnant women to make sure that the fetus is developing normally.

From this article, you will learn how to become an ultrasound specialist, what education is needed to work in your specialty, and how often an ultrasound doctor needs to improve his qualifications.

 Two myths about uzist education

Firstly, we will immediately dispel the myth that supposedly it is possible to work as an uzist after a secondary specialized medical education. This is not true. A misconception about the education of an ultrasound doctor has become widespread due to the fact that patients rarely go to this specialist on their own without the direct referral of a therapist or another doctor. Therefore, an uzist may seem like a doctor who simply scans the internal organs of patients at the behest of a specialist with a higher medical education.

There is another reason why one can be mistaken that ultrasound is more of an auxiliary profession, and not an independent direction in medicine. The fact is that in clinics and hospitals, ultrasound is often carried out by the attending physician himself. For example, a district gynecologist can independently do an ultrasound of the ovaries, fallopian tubes and pelvic organs, and a cardiologist can conduct an examination of the heart, arteries and veins. Because of this, there may be a false impression that the skill of performing ultrasound is a common one that is taught in all medical institutions.

Features of the activities of the uzist and the specifics of education

An uzist is necessarily a specialist with a higher medical education who is well versed in the topographic human anatomy and has the skills and experience in the proper handling of ultrasound equipment. To understand the specifics of training as an ultrasound doctor, let’s look at what is the peculiarity of the activity of this specialist.

Its competence includes:

• diagnosing the internal organs of the patient using ultrasound;
• establishing diagnosis;
• advising the attending physician about possible treatments for his patient;
• performing basic maintenance of ultrasound equipment and maintaining its performance;
• completing medical documentation.

A specialist receives theoretical knowledge and practical skills for work while studying at a medical university and undergoing residency.

A graduate of a medical institution who wants to work as an uzist must have excellent knowledge of the appearance and structure of natural and pathological formations, know everything about each of the structures of the human body in order to determine from the image on the monitor whether there is a pathological change in the proportions of a particular internal organ.

The ultrasound doctor examines:

• abdominal organs;
• intestines;
• kidneys;
• pelvic organs;
• scrotum;
• ovaries and fallopian tubes;
• joints;
• heart and blood vessels;
• skulls;
• thyroid gland;
• salivary glands;
• lymph nodes;
• soft tissues.

And this is not the whole list of glands and internal organs that can be examined using ultrasound. Therefore, anyone who wants to work in the direction of “Diagnostic Medical Sonography” needs serious professional training.

How to get an education

To become a highly qualified ultrasound specialist, you need to go through 4 stages of training.

1. Get an education in a higher medical institution in one of the areas of “General Medicine”, “Pediatrics”, “Medical Biophysics”, “Medical Cybernetics”.
2. Pass accreditation for the received specialist.
3. Apply for residency in the specialization “ultrasound diagnostics” and successfully complete it.
4. Pass accreditation in the specialty “ultrasound diagnostics”.

Only after completing all four stages, the specialist has the right to work in the field of ultrasound diagnostics.

What is professional retraining and is it possible to pass it to become an uzist

Professional retraining is an additional education that allows a doctor to master new competencies in a short time and gain professional knowledge to work in a new direction that interests him. After undergoing professional retraining, the college will issue a diploma of diagnostic medical sonographer, which he then submits, together with other documents, for accreditation.

Experienced doctors who have previously graduated from a university in one of the areas of “General Medicine”, “Pediatrics”, “Medical Biophysics”, “Medical Cybernetics” have the opportunity to undergo professional retraining as an ultrasound specialist at the “Academy of Professional Standards”. This means that after studying at the Academy, a specialist will be able to work as an ultrasound doctor on a par with those who have completed residency in ultrasound diagnostics.

Training at the Academy of Professional Standards is 576 academic hours and takes three and a half months. The study takes place in full-time and part-time form with the use of distance technologies.

Does an uzist need to improve their skills

An ultrasound doctor, like any other medical specialist, needs to be accredited every five years. Accreditation implies the receipt of annual continuous medical education by taking courses and participating in training full-time and correspondence events. Therefore, the answer to the question of whether an uzist needs to improve his qualifications is only yes. And it needs to be done constantly. Otherwise, the doctor will not be able to complete the portfolio and will not score 250 CME points by the time of accreditation, which will lead to the loss of the right to conduct medical activities.

Therefore, despite all the myths, to become an ultrasound doctor, you need to have serious medical training.

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