I recently received the brochure and registration materials for the 2008 Society of Radiologists in Ultrasound's Annual Meeting. I was somewhat surprised to have received the brochure, because historically the SRU has generally not been very receptive to non-radiologists. In fact, according to the SRU website, http://www.sru.org/, the Society is ...

Those of you who are, like me, former members of the flower generation, may remember the song ''Where Have all the Flowers Gone?'' It started as a war protest song, written by Pete Seger, and was recorded by several folk groups such as the Kingston Trio and Peter, Paul and Mary. It popped into my mind when we took a ...

  There is an old saying that a coward dies a thousand deaths, a brave man dies but once. In today's world, however, the media is often responsible for bringing on a thousand fears of death by sensationalizing any slight possibility of risk. If you pay attention to all the fears broadcast in the news, you will find you cannot do anything ...

  Both the ACR and the SNM are celebrating the passage of H. R. 6331, the Medicare Improvement for Patients and Providers Act of 2008. Both houses of Congress garnered the necessary majorities to override a presidential veto of the act. The House overrode the veto by a margin of 383-41, while the tally in the Senate was 70-26. The bill ...

  TV shows like House, which show physicians yelling at subordinates and ignoring their advice may have to adjust their scripts, now that the Joint Commission is taking on bad behavior in hospitals. According to a WebMD report: ''The Joint Commission's new standards -- which go into effect on Jan. 1, 2009 -- require hospitals and other ...

New Orleans put on its best face for the technologists, physicians and scientists attending the annual SNM conference June 14-18. In return, SNM and SNMTS members gave a bit of their time and their blood to the city. Coming into New Orleans, it looked very much like it did five years ago when the SNM held its 50th ...

In case you haven't heard, the American Registry for Diagnostic Medical Sonography (ARDMS) has announced that starting in Spring 2009, a new Sonography Principles and Instrumentation (SPI) examination will be made available. Before all of you who are already certified have a panic attack, I'll state up-front that active registrants who ...

I recently received the results of the Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonography's 2008 Sonographer Salary and Benefits Survey. Every few years the SDMS does a survey and provides its membership with the results---it's a nice benefit of being an SDMS member. The results contained in the 87-page survey are rather detailed with data provided ...

What is D2B? While it sounds like a new singing group, it's actually a new program launched by the American College of Cardiology. Its purpose is to save time-and lives-by reducing door-to-balloon time in hospitals that do emergency PCI procedures on people with STEMI ( ST elevated M.I.), by reducing door-to-balloon time to 90 minutes. This ...

The other day I was talking to Amy Shaw, associte director of public relations at the SNM, and she told me that SNMTS and United Blood Services will come together to be ''Blood Heroes'' by hosting a blood drive during SNM's 55th Annual Meeting in New Orleans. According to Shaw, the Technologist Section of SNM will host the drive on ...