This page will demonstrate my journey through school as I worked hard to become a sonographer. The process to becoming a sonographer was quite the journey. I started from the ground where a very small seed was planted through a brochure I received in the mail and now I have bloomed into a beautiful flower through much care, time, and love at SPCC. Here you will find artifacts that were completed by myself during this journey. Throughout my time in the program I was assigned different projects to help me become efficient in all areas such as; Written Communication, Oral Communication, Collaboration and Teamwork, Analysis and Interpretation, as well as Problem Solving.
Please see below to view a few of these artifacts.
CORE SKILLS
You will organize and express ideas clearly through oral communication in a manner appropriate for the intended audience.
Semester: Fall 2015
Project: Appendix Case Study
Smart Goals: Learn both protocol and clinical symptoms associated with Acute Appendicitis and successfully and confidently communicate these findings in order of educating my classmates on the pathology. Secondly, I would like become more efficient in PowerPoint to aid in my presentation.
Speaking in public has always been a challenge of mine. It was not that I mind talking, but I always have had a fear of messing up, losing track, and/or boring people. I want to be confident in my knowledge and for people to be able to tell that I understand and am passionate about what I am there to communicate. The first real experience I had with public speaking was in my SON-120 class prior to the sonography program. This class helped prepare me for the future of confidently speaking in groups of people, here is where I learned the importance of organization when speaking, as well as a good opener and closure to your speech.
The requirements of this project were to present a clinical case to our classmates in order of educating them on something we had learned during our internship at a local hospital. I found this case to be interesting, because it is rare that you see a positive appendicitis. I had the opportunity to work closely with a seasoned tech who took a lot of time to make sure I fully understood the case, so being confident in my case helped me to confidently educate my classmates as well.
I was able to take what I learned from this case and communicate to my classmates through a PowerPoint and oral presentation in the classroom. This particular case presented with all of the common symptoms seen in a case of acute appendicitis, so it was a very effective presentation. The patient presented very sick, lethargic, and feverish. Sonographically we were able to locate the inflamed appendix right away, which also demonstrated an appendicolith (stone) as well. Having confidence in the case helped me to confidently speak the day of my presentation. While, I feel that I could have done better in presenting to my classmates, I still feel that I grew in confidence from this assignment. I was able to effectively educate them without stumbling due to my preparation and organization prior to the day of presenting.
I enjoyed presenting this to my classmates, mainly because it was such an informative case in my journey. I feel that my classmates were able to benefit from it as well. The countless hours of research and preparation for this project helped me to become more comfortable with scanning such cases once I graduate and am on my own, so not only was I able to practice my public speaking skills, but I was able to grow in confidence for my future as a Sonographer.
You will apply the basic principles of mathematics and/or scientific inquiry to identify, interpret and evaluate and solve problems.
Semester: Fall 2015
Project: Case Studies
Smart Goals: Learn both clinical symptoms and ultrasound appearance that aid in diagnosis of multiple pathologies. Also, make a proper diagnosis of said pathologies through my research.
Problem solving is key in every case as a sonographer. We are the eyes for the Radiologist, every image we take is key in diagnosis. Therefore, I never want to take my job lightly. I feel that one of the biggest worries during my time as a student is that I would miss something and therefore put my patient in a situation that could have been prevented. Each of our teachers take valuable time preparing and educating us to assure this does not happen and to help us feel comfortable with our knowledge. One assignment I was required to complete is to recognize both clinical symptoms and ultrasound appearances of common pathologies to make a probable diagnosis. We were given a case from our instructor and required to diagnose it based on our knowledge and studies from lecture. This was a great way to practice critical thinking and problem solving in preparation for the real world once graduation.
Each week during lecture we were given several cases that pertained to our studies for the week, this is just an example of one. I took each case and applied my learning of the different pathologies to best diagnose each patient correctly. Through this type of critical thinking I was able to distinguish the different common factors that help diagnose different cases.
This was a great preparation to familiarize myself with common pathologies, grow in confidence as a Sonographer, and become more aware of different pathologies. I chose to use this to show my ability to effectively problem solve, since I felt it was one of the first times I actually saw myself as a Sonographer and that all of my studying from past classes began to click.
The learner will apply the basic principles of individual or group behavior to current and future challenges of working and collaborating with others with respect to diversity and global issues.
Semester: Fall 2014
Project: Dermoid Presentation
Smart Goals: Learn to delegate and easily work with others in order of completing the project in a timely fashion. Once I have properly delegated the work load between my classmate and myself, I plan to work in a timely fashion to assure meeting the set deadlines. es.
I really enjoyed working on this assignment for my sonography class. This was a team project where I and my teammate had to both write a paper, put together a PowerPoint presentation, and present the pathology to our classmates by verbally presenting in the classroom. This project required many hours of studying, and collaborating with my teammate to put together all the pieces and learn more about the pathology, so we could effectively present it to our classmates.
My teammate and I chose to break the assignment into parts to each do research and then meet to go over our material and began putting together the paper and PowerPoint, this required delegation on my part. I am a doer and used to just completing things myself, so that I do not have to wait on others. After, several days/weeks of work for each of us making sure we had all the necessary material to teach our classmates exactly what a dermoid was as well as how to recognize them through ultrasound we met and began putting our project together. Giving ourselves a timeline and due dates to complete certain steps by kept us on track and we were able to complete our project in advance.
Once we had put together the research side of our project we than began to brainstorm for ways to help our classmates retain this information. We chose to use a game we called pin the dermoid on the ovary. We had each of our classmates make their own dermoid out of material we provided and then interact by being blindfolded and placing it on the ovary to the best of their ability. Our classmates loved the interaction of this game as well as making their own dermoid, this helped the reality of what a dermoid really is sink in.
There was a lot of research required to collect the necessary information so that I could present the pathology to my classmates in a knowledgeable way. I wanted to be able to not only talk about this pathology for my project and presentation, but to also be able to grasp this knowledge long-term. Not only did I get to research and collaborate with a teammate during this project, but I also had to critically think through how to best present the material to other students which was both challenging and rewarding.
You will apply the basic principles of interpretation and analysis to synthesize information.
Semester: Summer 2014
Project: 3D Anatomy
Smart Goals: Learn the location, functions, and correlation of abdominal organs. Through extensive research I hope to better familiarize myself with both the anatomical location of the organs themselves, as well as their location in the body. Secondly, I plan to learn the function and normal size of each organ.
Analyzing and interpreting is a crucial part of being a sonographer, we as sonographers are required to know the normal anatomy to be able to in turn recognize abnormal. I chose to share this 3D anatomy project that I put together during my 1st semester of Sonography school, because I felt it was very beneficial to my learning process. This project was a great assignment as I was able to not only study the anatomy, but had to put together a representation of my learning. Through this assignment I not only became efficient in the correlation of the abdominal organs, but I also learned the functions of each, being a visual learner this project really helped me to get a good grasp on normal anatomy.
I began this project by going to my textbooks and simply studying the normal anatomy, location, and description of each organ. After I felt I had a grasp on this part of the assignment I began to brainstorm the 3D portion of the project. I chose to make a 3D representation of the abdominal organs out of felt. Attached is a detailed list of my process along with images, showing where I started with raw materials and then shaped them into the organs and placed them in their anatomical location.
This project was assigned during SON-120 where I was feeling in the best terms completely overwhelmed and questioning if I could indeed be a Sonographer one day. Once this project was complete I began to put the puzzle pieces together when scanning, I would call this project a big "ah ha" moment in my school journey. I felt that I was able to meet my two smart goals during this project, as I was able to successfully learn and understand the anatomy as well as location of the abdominal organs.
You will choose and utilize appropriate technologies to access, organize, and analyze and communicate information.
Semester: Summer 2014
Project: RUQ Protocol
Smart Goals: Critically think through necessary protocol, as well as anatomy and successfully correlate material needed to perform a diagnostic exam.
This assignment was a great stepping stone into my future. Technology is key in performing a diagnostic exam, you must have knowledge on how the machine operates to be able to successfully operate it in order of creating diagnostic images for diagnosis. This includes, knowing the correct image planes, transducer required, knobology, and techniques to achieve the best images possible. Through this assignment I was required to gather the needed images and information to create a diagnostic right upper quadrant ultrasound. At this point in my learning I was still overwhelmed with how to properly run different machines, as well as the best plane to image each organ, so to process the entire exam was extremely helpful in my learning process.
I began by gathering protocols from my clinical site to see what requirements they were asked to meet with each exam. Next, I referred to my study materials to get a good grasp on these images that were required as well as the best techniques for getting them. I studied each machine at my clinical rotations to get a good feel for knobology, as well as asked my preceptors for pointers on how to create the best images. Finally, I was able to put it all together and present a full protocol that I can refer to throughout my career when necessary.
This project was a great assignment that I felt helped me to better my knowledge in the learning process, to fully understand the requirements and best techniques necessary for a diagnostic exam. Through this project I felt myself beginning to grasp the whole picture of Sonography, the pieces to the puzzle were beginning to fall in place. Not only was I able to learn through this assignment, but I will be able to use this for years to come.
You will organize and express ideas clearly through written communicaciton in a manner approprite for the intended audience.
Semester: Fall 2015
Project: Hernia Case Study
Smart Goals: Become more efficient in writing properly cited essays, that effectively inform my audience of the covered material in a punctual way. As well as, become more efficient in the structure of grammatically correct sentences.
Prior to applying to the Sonography program I was required to take ENG-111 where I learned how to properly punctuate and cite essays in order of not plagiarizing. For this assignment I was to present a case study that I scanned at my clinical rotation, I had to find a case that was interesting and beneficial to me and my classmates. Once I located my case I put together a PowerPoint presentation as well as a written paper to document the pathology and inform my audience in APA format of the found pathology.
At my clinical location I had to use my knowledge as a student to run the machine and document the images you see on the PowerPoint. I also had to critically think through the case as the patient told me her symptoms. I was able to learn a lot through this assignment as I had to dig into the pathology as well as be able to take diagnostic images for the radiologist, but once this information was gathered I had to record my findings in proper form into an essay. This is where my past teaching was beneficial, due to many essays I had previously written I was able to compare and make certain that this article also followed the correct punctuation and citation requirements to assure that I did not plagiarize any material that backed up my research.
I feel that through my paper and PowerPoint my goals were met during this project, I was required to use resources to back my knowledge as well as critically think through and compare the symptoms with diagnosis of the hernia. I was also able to use my past knowledge and learning to properly cite and punctate my essay, so that my classmates could then read and become educated on the material. Also, by correctly citing my research they will also be able to access this information for further knowledge if necessary.