Welcome To “Reflections In Real Time"
Greetings and welcome to
ADVANCE's diagnostic medical sonography-related blog. I suppose it would be appropriate to offer you a little background info about me with an emphasis on my professional life so here goes:
I've been a sonographer for more than 22 years having earned my BS degree in Diagnostic Imaging / DMS from Thomas Jefferson's College of Allied Health Professions. Since 1999, I have written a column in ADVANCE's ADVANCE for Imaging and Radiation Therapy Professionals. The column had been called "Ultrasound Waves" but is now called "Reflections". Thus, when we needed to come up with a name for this blog I combined my usual sonography-related forum user name "Real time" with the new column name and - viola! BTW - I'm also a big fan of Bill Maher who-if you ask me-stole from me the name of his HBO series Real Time with Bill Maher (he may have a different story).
Although my current position (as the Technical Coordinator of Ultrasound Research at the Jefferson Ultrasound Research and Education Institute of Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia) is focused on sonography research, until recently I also performed clinical exams in a private GYN infertility office. After working in that office doing literally thousands of endovaginal exams a year (for almost 22 years) that position went south when the four doc's decided to part ways. So much for what I thought was going to be a "part-time moon-lighting job." I'm sure you've heard stories of partnerships gone bad and how ugly they can be-well, let me tell you this break-up was not a pretty sight. We'll share some stories about working in private offices in a future thread. So now-after doing two jobs for over twenty years-I feel almost as if I'm semi-retired and I have to tell you-it's not bad! Sure, I miss the extra income, but I've already begun to enjoy the extra hours of sleep each day, not to mention the lower level of stress.
I've been active in a number of sonography-related organizations including the Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonography (SDMS), the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine (AIUM) and the American Registry for Diagnostic Medical Sonography (ARDMS). I recently completed a six-year term on the ARDMS's Ultrasound Physics and Instrumentation (UPI) Exam Development Task Force (please don't blame me if you are having trouble passing the UPI exam!) which represents another release from obligations for me. But I haven't given up all my extracurricular activities - I am currently one of four sonographers on the AIUM's Board of Governors and that is proving to be an ummm... interesting experience.
Outside of my professional life I enjoy putting the top down on my sports car and tooling around the back roads. I just wish there was less traffic (and fewer drivers on cell phones) and more hills and dales than there are in my neck of feature-less suburban south N.J. I also like hiking, nature photography and other outdoor activities with my wife Ruth and two sons Dan (not Jr.) who's 15 and 11-year-old Henry.
I'm delighted to become a blogger and look forward to hosting lots of discussions that will cover every-day clinical issues as well as controversial situations in the world of diagnostic medical sonography. I hope you'll join in the discussions and look forward to your inputs.
Until next time, don't over gain and keep the PRF low.