Ultrasound Technician - Career path ??

[leorceo]

Good Afternoon

Thank you for taking the time to read my questions!

I am a 24 year old guy, living in Brooklyn NY. I am contemplating on studying to become an ultrasound technician. I am thinking about this as a career path mainly for 2 reasons. One, I like to work with people and second, I would like to have a job that pays well in this high cost world.

Back when I was 19 I tried going to college and study computer science, however I found it not very interesting, therefore I left the university. Now, at this point in my life,when thinking about studiyng, I find it more realistic to get into a 2 year program which is what I understand the case for an ultrasound technician career.

Please, take the time to give me some of your point of view on this field. I don't know much about it other then knowing I will work with pregnant women. (seams like mostly a nice good/happy atmosphere). Also, one of my concerns is if it is a problem being a male when most of the work is with pregnant women.

Thank you so much

Leo

[NOIRLINCOLN]

Speaking as a former u/s tech and a new grad nurse-Hospitals hire more nurses than u/s techs. U/s is fine if you do not need to be able to move around and find the exact right fit for a position, but the opportunities to find the right fit are so much more limited than they are for nurses. How do u/s sign on bonuses compare? There are many more divisions of nursing-emergency, tele, med surg, school, dr's office to mention a few. U/s was a very disappointing profession for me. When we graduated there were no jobs. The hospitals hand picked from the program who they wanted to hire and in spite of my graduating w/ high honors in 1989 they did not pick me or my girlfriend. I went to Virginia to work and soon found out why the position was sitting empty. And my girlfriend eventually got a job out in middle PA where she stayed in forever b/c she could not move elsewhere. She said that she liked it, but I lost touch w/ her. It is a good thing that she did like it b/c she was not able to make a career move. The field was extremelly limited. Run to nursing school and pass up u/s school imho.

[TazziRN, RN]

Pregnant women will not be the only ones you work with as a sono tech. In the ER we order sonos on just about every part of the body. And yes, being male might cause a difficulty. Doesn't mean you can't do it, but OB and pelvic sonos on women include endolady partsl views, which means inserting a probe into the lady parts. Most women are not comfortable having a male tech do that, and you would need a chaperone. Nursing offers way more choices and fields to go into, more diversity. I think the world of our sono techs but my suggestion to you would be to choose nursing.