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During the course of the examination, the DMS must use her knowledge of human anatomy and physiology as well as her familiarity with her particular specialty to gain the neces- sary images of the patient’s body. She will need to look at the patient’s diagnosis and determine the types and number of

“The Ultrasound Kept Me Together” A patient was asked to share a real-life story about her interaction with a diagnostic medical sonographer. She told the following story about her experience with a DMS in a small suburban hospital: “I was 30 weeks’ pregnant with my fourth baby when I started having lower back pain. I figured I had overdone it at the gym that day and didn’t think anything of it. When I got up the next morning and saw that my urine looked like fruit punch, I had my husband take me to the hospital emergency room, knowing something was wrong. “The ER nurses sent me right up to labor and delivery, where they hooked me up to a fetal heart monitor and started running tests. When they saw that I was, in fact, urinating what looked like fruit punch, they started using phrases like ‘kidney failure’ and ‘premature delivery.’ Within minutes, an ultrasound tech rolled into the room with a giant portable ultrasound machine to look at my kidneys. I have had ultrasounds before. This was my fourth baby! But never before did I hold my breath the way I did that morning.

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Ultrasound Technicians