Sonography Principles and Instrumentation Outline

Sonography Principles and Instrumentation Content Outline

The distribution of content on each examination matches the percentages shown in the major headings of the outline. An examinee’s score report will also display the major headings and provide performance feedback.

I. Patient care, safety and communication [5%]

  1. Patient identification / documentation
  2. Patient interaction
  3. Verification of requested examination
  4. Emergency situations
  5. Universal precautions
  6. Bioeffects and ALARA

II. Physics principles [20%]

  1. Properties of ultrasound waves
  2. Interactions of sound with tissue
  3. Power, intensity, and amplitude
  4. Units of measurement

III. Ultrasound transducers [20%]

  1. Transducer construction and characteristics
  2. Transducer types (sector, linear, phased arrays, etc.)
  3. Spatial resolution
  4. Transducer selection

IV. Pulse-echo instrumentation [30%]

  1. Display modes and their formation (A-mode, B-mode, M-mode, 3-D, etc.)
  2. Transmission of ultrasound
  3. Reception of ultrasound (preprocessing)
  4. Beam former
  5. Postprocessing of ultrasound signals
  6. Pulse-echo imaging artifacts
  7. Tissue harmonic imaging
  8. Realtime ultrasound instrumentation
  9. Recording and storage devices

V. Doppler instrumentation and hemodynamics [20%]

  1. Ability to acquire color flow image
  2. Ability to acquire a Doppler spectral image
  3. Ability to take measurements from the spectral waveform
  4. Hemodynamics

VI. Quality assurance / quality control of equipment [5%]

  1. Preventive maintenance
  2. Malfunctions
  3. Performance testing with phantoms

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