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Ultrasound technician salaries are excellent and job prospects even better making a career as an ultrasound technician a great choice for those interested in working in the health care sector. Ultrasound technicians, also called sonographers, perform diagnostic medical procedures using high frequency sound waves to make visual images of organs, tissues or blood flow. These images help doctors diagnose and treat disease.
The ultrasound technician salary range is only one of the reasons to consider a sonographer’s career. In addition to the ultrasound tech salary range being very good there are also many ultrasound technician jobs to choose from today and more ultrasound tech jobs are being created everyday is as the population ages and new uses are found for ultrasound technology.
You can begin your career as an ultrasound technician with a two year certificate training program or you can choose a four year bachelors degree program.
Most of the two year programs and all the bachelors programs require a high school diploma or GED to qualify for admission. Some hospitals and the armed forces also offer training in this field. In addition to facility based programs you can find online ultrasound tech training programs.
Make sure whichever training program you choose offers clinical experience rotation in a hospital or medical facility setting so that you qualify to take the certification exam when you successfully complete the program. The American Radiological and Diagnostic Medical Sonography (ARDMS) Association website www.ardms.org provides current prerequisites for certification.
Do not enroll in an ultrasound tech training program unless it is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs’ (CAAHEP) Joint Review Committee on Education in Diagnostic Medical Sonography. You can find a list of accredited programs at www.caahep.org.
One of the best aspects of an ultrasound tech career is the flexibility ultrasound tech employment opportunities offer. You can find both full-time and part-time positions and work either day or night shifts.
How Much Does an Ultrasound Technician Make?
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics answers the question, how much does an ultrasound tech make? According to the Bureau, an ultrasound tech salary in 2009 paid a mean hourly wage of $30.60 and an annual mean wage of $63,640. An ultrasound technician salary ranges with the tech’s education and experience, specialties practiced, the geographic location in which the tech is working and the type of facility in which the tech is working between $43,990 and almost $90,000 annually according to Bureau statistics.
Those ultrasound techs with an American Registry for Diagnostic Medical Sonography (ARDMS) certification can expect to earn a higher ultrasound tech salary than those without certification.
Ultrasound technician salaries also tend to be higher for those who take additional training to be certified in one or more specializations. Some of the areas of specialization include abdomen, breast, obstetrics and gynecology, echocardiography, vascular technology, neurosonology and ophthalmology. There are also opportunities for ultrasound technicians to advance into supervisory, managerial, or administrative positions many of which pay higher ultrasound tech salaries.
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