Striving for Sonographic Image Quality at the Expense of Personal Injury and Burnout

Abstract

A virtual participatory workshop was held to address the issue of prioritizing image quality over the risk of work-related musculoskeletal injury (WRMSI) and burnout. The data that were collected from the session was analyzed qualitatively to discover the possible factors that could negatively affect the quality of sonographic examinations, without blaming the sonographer. The capture of rich discussion centered on the need to strike a proper balance between a high-quality sonogram without contributing to negative effects to a sonographers’ health and safety. As a sonographer’s health declines, the physical abilities and cognitive focus required to perform one’s best also declines, resulting in lower overall quality and a downward spiral of declining health and quality. Identifying solutions to maintain a proper balance between image quality and sonographer health and safety is paramount. To successfully implement and maintain workplace solutions, sonographers, clinic staff, and administrators must work together to determine which solutions can be trialed in the workplace. Further practical research is needed to quantitatively measure some of the key themes from the workshop: the need for structural change to reinforce the necessity of WRMSI risk reduction, ongoing prioritization of quality over WRMSI risk reduction, and an urgent need to teach students WRMSI risk reduction.