Sonographer

Job overview

• Work as an Advanced Practitioner performing and reporting on a range of ultrasound examinations
• Provide a high standard of care at all times to patients and relatives.
• Be responsible for professional leadership and the education, training and development of self and others.
• Work across professional and organizational boundaries to improve patient outcomes.

Main duties of the job

To perform a range of scans and report on highly complex images whose acquisition is operator dependent, accurately differentiating between normal and pathological findings

• To perform biopsies and other interventional procedures (if suitably qualified) when appropriate
• To be a source of expertise for clinicians and more junior team members
• To work as a team member with a multidisciplinary approach to the service provided
• To provide a high standard of patient care at all times.
• To be responsible for education, training of self and others.
• Work in collaboration with other health care professionals and medical staff and across medical boundaries
• To facilitate a single team approach to develop a cross site ultrasound service
• To assist in developing cross site working patterns which will allow the delivery of an efficient and effective ultrasound service.
• Undertake out of hours duties as required by the service.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• To plan and perform complex ultrasound examinations in accordance with Trust and departmental agreed working protocols, ensuring high standards are maintained.
• To analyse clinical histories to perform the most appropriate technique/examination to answer the clinical question.
• To be responsible for the quality of work of all staff and that of students, other health professionals and medical personnel being trained within the department, ie act as a clinical role model.
• To ensure the highest standards are maintained to accommodate the clinical, physical, mental and cultural needs of the patient.
• Use of clinical skills to recognise and act swiftly in emergency situations, ie, cardiac arrest, respiratory arrest, MAJAX cascade.
• Assist Consultant radiologists with complex procedures.
• Supervise and support/mentor students and junior staff & undertake staff assessments when required.
• Ensure safety of patients, staff, carers and visitors when operating all ultrasound and related equipment within the department
• Participation in quality assurance programmes recording faults and take action where appropriate.
• Promote best practice, advising and sharing knowledge to the profession and beyond.
• Provide clinical counselling to the patient and their relatives following good, bad, unexpected unwelcome news, ie discovery of malignancy
• Acknowledging when changing care is required and having the authority to recommend further imaging.
• To communicate effectively with patients of all ages and abilities to gain a positive identification and co-operation in order to obtain high quality images
• To communicate effectively with all grades of staff and clinicians in and outside the clinical area
• Freedom to act independently on own interpretation of findings
• Ability to work autonomously when justifying the relevance of requests, taking into account previous examination and reports using clinical details and obtaining a verbal history
• Prioritising and managing workload as an individual and as part of a team
• Communicating results immediately in certain situations to enable rapid response from clinicians, ie when working on ITU/SCBU
• Instigating a fast track pathway where necessary to ensure appropriate treatment is commenced in a timely way, ie, Haematuria Clinics, TIA Clinics etc. Patients are prioritised with reports being typed immediately for “One Stop” clinic situation
• Provide care and support to women and their families following diagnosis of foetal abnormality
• Provide a high level of tact, empathy, discretion and sensitivity in emotional situations
• Develop new protocols using evidence based practice and participate in delivering strategies outlined in guidelines which have been produced
• Maintain awareness of current trends in all professional matters in the field of ultrasound
• Effective cleaning and disinfecting of equipment and ancillary equipment in line with the Trust policy on infection control
• Participate in MDT meetings, justifying accuracy of biopsies/reports
• Maintain personal contact with patient/clients and relatives and other HCPs
• Close involvement with the universities and medical schools involving setting out courses and content for future development of the service
• Participation in the attendance of courses to update knowledge and cascading of information to the rest of the team
• Completion of equipment check lists to ensure the use of new equipment is understood by all
• Taking responsibility for own CPD with accurate and up to date records
• Attendance of courses to update knowledge and cascading of information to the rest of the team
• Arrange equipment checks as and when required
• Assess equipment for suitability of purpose
• Collaborate with all service areas
• Participate in research and development and clinical trials as required
• Maintain awareness of current trends in all professional matters in the field of ultrasound
• Promote best practice, advising and sharing knowledge of the profession and beyond
• Bring up-to-date relevant reports, guidelines and policies on health and clinical practice and implement where required
• Organise the induction of new staff, including medical staff within the department
• Assess students undertaking ultrasound courses from the university as required throughout the region.
• To be aware and comply with the Trust and departmental and clinical/non clinical incident reporting
• To undertake quality assurance initiatives and audit projects related to all aspects of current practice
• Escalate reports of incidents to Team Leader/Service Lead with responsibility for risk management
• Ensure all equipment is in good working order and maintain a safe working environment for patients, staff and visitors
• Ensure safety of patients, staff, carers and visitors when operating all ultrasound and related equipment within the department
• Participation in quality assurance programmes recording all faults and bringing to the attention of the Team Leader /Service Lead
• Ensure all trust resources are utilised in an appropriate manner & not wasted.